Keyblade: Crossroads

Long ago, before the keyblade war, there existed a group of people who wielded weapons known as the swords of light and truth.

The swords could reveal the truth of the world around them and lead the wielder to their destiny. Many tried to unravel the truth of the swords, but all they could learn was that there was something that allowed one person to summon it instead of another. On several worlds, temples were built, and in these temples were the disciples and masters, whose life goal was to learn the secrets of the mysterious sword...

Prologue

The Master

"So, we've decided to meet like this now, huh?" Said an old man. The man was tall and lanky, with a slight hunch. His cloaked covered the majority of his face, but a long beard falls from the opening showing his age. He walks over to a fruit stand a picks up an apple. Watching him is a woman in a battle outfit. Her hair is short and golden in appearance with a decorative pin in one side.

"B-b-but, You said you wanted food, Master" the lady responds anxiously.

"Yes, I did, but I wanted you to bring it to me. I'm an old man now, I can't be walking around a market picking up my own food." The old man gestures to an odd looking fruit. "Oooo...What is that one?"

The man behind the counter picks up the piece. It's a green fruit that is shaped like a teardrop.

"You have a good eye, sir! This is the famed Gringila fruit! It's said that if you eat this, you are more likely to be favored by the sword of light and truth. I already have many satisfied customers. What I have here is actually all that I have in stock!"

"Hmmmm... interesting..." the old man grumbled in a low voice. "And how many of these would I have to eat to summon said sword?"

The fruit-seller looked at the old man and judged, "It depends on the person... but for you, it may be more than what we have, sir."

"He-he-he!" The old man laughed, "Well, I guess that I'm out of luck then!" The old man and the younger woman walked away from the stand. While they walked the salesman tried to persuade the woman to buy a piece, but was promptly ignored.

"I guess he didn't know who you were." She said to the old man as they walked through the market. It was not very crowded today, so they could easily look at all of the stands.

"May this be another lesson for you Marina, never judge a book by its cover," he picked up another Gringila fruit from a different stand, "...or a fruit by it's salesman." The old man laughed, paid for a fruit for each of them and found a bench to sit down on.

After a few bites into the fruit, the old man looked down and lowered his voice, "I called you here today to discuss important business. I've seen something."

Seeing the stern look on his face, Marina knew this was serious. The old Master was jovial most of the time, but he's still seen his share of hardships, he always seems to know when something big is about to happen. "What is it? What did you see?"

He clenched his hands around the fruit. "Something big. Something new. Something dark. Through years of study, there has always been one constant with the blades of truth and light. They have been swords of LIGHT. "

Marina was confused and startled, "what are you saying? Of course they are light. That's what they are. They unlock the truth around us. How can there be darkness in truth."

The old man ate his fruit down to the rind and placed it on the ground. "The truth can be many things, but I don't think that's what was happening. I think someone is going to unlock something else. Their are older mysteries in this world than the swords. And there are far more locks than there are keys. Usually it's not a concern, but with the growing population of wielders, it's only a matter of time before someone does something foolish."

Marina finished her fruit and placed her rind on the ground next to his. "What exactly did you see?"

He looked straight ahead and then closed his eyes trying to visualize what he saw. "There was a mountain and three people at the bottom of it. In front of them was a sword of light stuck in the ground that was old and chipped. On top of the mountain was a fourth person. They were pointing a blade at the three, but it was different. It was a sword of light and truth, but it had this aura coming off of it. I could not only see it, but I could feel it. It was a heavy feeling. When they lifted up the blade, darkness surrounded everything, and these creatures slowly enveloped the entire landscape. They closed in on the three, but they were eventually swallowed by the darkness and its monsters."

She listened intently and paused to reflect after he was done. "What does this mean? For one, the sword of light and truth can't be chipped, when it's broken, it's dissolved and recreated new when summoned again. Also, no blade has ever had any aura to it except when unlocking something, let alone a dark one. And those monsters...

This is troublesome. Have you told anyone else?"

He stood up and brushed himself off. After struggling to pick up his refuse, Marina picked up both and disposed of them. "No, I have not, nor do I want you to. I don't want us to be the ones to have a part in creating this future. I am simply telling you because of the new recruits due in next week. "

She looked at him with confusion, "the new recruits? But what could they have to do with this? They're just children starting out on their path of knowledge. Half of them can't even summon a sword yet."

He started to walk away, and then stopped a couple of paces from her. "I left that part out. All four of the people in my vision were young... and two of them wore our insignia..."