Apocalypse Saga

Note: The plot is loosely based on that of Final Fantasy.  All credit for Final Fantasy goes to Squaresoft / Square Enix.  Only the characters are my own.

Essence Key (just to give an idea of what each character is capable of):
         Red Essence: The character is built around casting more quickly, and with less cost, than those with other signatures (multicasting)
         Blue Essence: The character is built around learning the abilities of others, and using them to his/her own advantage (learning)
         Green Essence: The character is built around boosting allies and/or crippling enemies, rather than directly damaging them (buffing/debuffing)
         Purple Essence: The character is built around reading the movements of the enemy, and evading them (psychic)
         Yellow Essence: The character is built to put himself/herself at risk for greatest effect (berserk)
         Orange Essence: The character is built for fighting in-tight, rather than at a range (melee)
         White Essence: The character is built around supporting the allies, rather than attacking the enemies (supportive)
         Black Essence: The character is built around attacking the enemies, rather than supporting the allies (offensive)
         Grey Essence: The character is connected to the wild, able to communicate with beasts (primal)

Setting:
    Montgomery County Maryland in the year 2713
Plot:
    In the year 2100 humans unlocked the eighth wonder of the universe: a foursome of crystaline monoliths that somehow keep the universe alive.  With them, humans were able to discover the secrets to using something that, until then, had been discounted by science ~ magic.  What was fantasy became truth.  With the discovery of magic, humans were able to prevent a meteor impact as the meteor entered the planet's atmosphere.  By the year 2330, the nuclear bomb was obsolete.  Magic allowed incredible damage to be done, undone, or prevented, while minimizing the cost and collateral effects.
    In this time of discovery, a new threat comes from beyond the universal boundary ~ the threat of Armageddon.  This is not your textbook apocalypse.  This is not nuclear war.  This is not a zombie apocalypse.  This is far worse ~ the outright destruction of the galaxy at the hands of a ruthless group of war-like people ~ the Armageddon Empire ~ a destructive faction devoted to reshaping the world in their image.  But four brave souls, bearing a mastery of the newfound magic and the scars of time itself, will rise up to combat this new threat.
    Can they destroy the Armageddon Empire?
Bios:

Ctelin "Ctel" Ajira, & Chelinka "Yin" Ajira:
         Born on March 30, 2693, Ctel and Yin Ajira are survivors of a murderous event 8 years prior, leaving them orphaned.  They've had to adapt to this unwelcome change, and it has left them scarred for life.  Their friends have helped to get them over the wall that was the death of their parents.  They have a psychic link of sorts.
         Ctel:
                   A boy of great uniqueness, and the main protagonist, Ctelin Ajira, known informally as Ctel, is quickly learning how to be independent in this unforgiving world.  He swore a vow to protect his twin sister after their parents were murdered by the Armageddon Empire.  He has at his disposal the magical arts that his family has passed down for many generations, along with some unique and powerful abilities of his own.  His unique mana embodies his vengeful rage and his need for avenging the death of his parents.  His abilities reflect his desire for vengeance.
                   Signature: 1 part Black Essence, 1 part Red Essence
         Yin:
                   The younger by 10 minutes or so, Chelinka Ajira (who prefers the nickname Yin because it's easier to say) is only slightly reliant on her brother.  She considers language a burden, having not spoken until age 5.  Yin has at her disposal the magical arts her family has passed down for generations, as well as an assortment of preventative abilities.  Her unique mana embodies her desire for a better world and the grieving she feels for her parents.  Her abilities reflect her desire to improve this world.
                   Signature: 1 part White Essence, 1 part Red Essence
Aya Atmas & Ino Atmas:
         Born on April 19, 2697, Aya and Ino Atmas are childhood friends of Ctel and Yin, as well as survivors of a similar event to that which left the Ajira twins orphaned, and have suffered the same fate.  Like the Ajiras, Aya and Ino have had to adapt to orphanhood.  They seem to have a sort of psychic link similar to that between the Ajira twins.
         Aya:
                   Aya Atmas is not easy to soothe when irritated.  She idolizes her friend Ctelin Ajira.  She is the only one Ctel knows whose vocabulary consists solely of three Japanese words.  Her summoning abilities reflect her aggressive personality.  Her unique mana embodies her barely-contained aggression and desire for vengeance.
                   Signature: 1 part Grey Essence, 1 part Purple Essence
         Ino:
                   Fifteen minutes the younger, Ino Atmas is intensely traumatized by the death of his parents.  Yet this hasn't hurt his curiosity - in fact, if anything, Ino's curiosity has been empoweredby the event.  He idolizes his friend Yin Ajira.  His ability to learn the attacks of his enemies reflects his intense curiosity about the world.  His unique mana embodies his intense desire to learn.
                   Signature: 1 part Blue Essence, 1 part Orange Essence
Ronnie Laune:
         Orphaned at age 11, Ronnie Laune is extremely vengeful of his parents.  He has learned the hard way that to benefit from something often means someone else has to suffer, and over the years has become almost primal.  He knows a completely new variety of magic - one that taxes the caster's life force instead of a mana reserve, making it dangerous to use, but much more powerful.  His abilities reflect his desire for vengeance.
         Signature: 1 part Black Essence, 1 part Yellow Essence
Zoe Alexis Carter: (credit for this character goes to Erin Lindsey, author of Venus Envy ( http://www.venusenvycomic.com/index.php?id=2 ))
         Born a male, Alexander Thomas Carter felt more like a girl than a boy.  Once Alexander revealed his conundrum, it caused his family to relocate from Arizona to Pennsylvania.  In his new hometown, Alexander Thomas Carter changed his gender identity from male to female, and her name to Zoë Alexis Carter.  Unbeknownst to her, Zoë's mother carries a piece of the magical mineral surrounding each of the four crystaline monoliths.  Zoë's unique mana embodies the distinct confusion that she felt as a child.  Her abilities reflect this same confusion.
         Signature: 1 part Orange Essence, 1 part Black Essence
Armageddon:
         The Armageddon Empire is hell-bent on reshaping the world in their image.  However, they believe doing so means destroying it first.  So their Emperor brought together the most destructive people from around his galaxy, and decided to take the other galaxies by storm.  He started by destroying the Andromeda galaxy, which threw the residents of our own galaxy off-guard many, many years later when it suddenly vanished from the Andromeda constellation.  When they suddenly found out that it had been destroyed by intelligent life, most panicked.  They could summon and stop meteors, create the effects of nuclear explosions with pinpoint accuracy and zero collateral damage, and even stop those effects in their tracks.  But nothing they knew of could destroy entire galaxies with one fell-swoop.
         Nothing!
         But even they have theit fair share of traitors.