A/N: Before I start, I don't own Wild Arms, or any of the ideas that came from it. I do, however, own any original characters and locales, etc. Feel free to drop any reviews, etc. On with the show.

---

Nobody knows who I really am... I've never felt this empty before.

An empty husk, that's what I am. Living day to day in the wasteland that is Filgaia. If you look left, a sea of sand. If you look right, red mountains. Where are the green expanses of yore, the ones that could be watched for hours at a time? This small town at the base of the mountains, it didn't yield any sights for sore eyes. That's why everyone passed over it, they just couldn't stand it.

Being born and raised in such a place, I was no stranger to hard work. Digging up ores or hunting down that night's dinner or even cleaning up the unsewered streets, those were the types of job for me. The lowest of the low. The youngest of the young. Being thirteen at the time, I wasn't taken seriously for anything that I did or said.

It's strange, though. Things can change so fast. In one instant, everything that you knew and loved could all of a sudden be taken from your grasp. It's also interesting that I prayed for something like this to happen. Because, as you can see, I'm stuck. Trapped between a horrible past and a dreadful future. Only something with an exponential amount of force could have freed me from my imaginary prison.

"Is this how heroes are made?" I caught the whisperings of a voice. It seemed to come from nowhere, and everywhere, and somewhere. From the mountains, from the desert, from the void. It rebounded off of walls, it emanated from the ground, it got magnified by the sun. It was in my mind.

I felt my voice starting in my throat, but I could not expel it from my mouth. Almost as if the whisper prevented me from speaking, it tauntingly spoke again. "Well?" I almost felt the playful whisper bounding across my ear, it made me shiver from top to bottom. Dropping the shovel that used to be in my hands against my will, my hands were forced upwards, I was reaching towards the sky, I needed the sky.

"All heroes are destined for it." A bright light engulfed my hand, I was in my own little world. The sun disappeared, the ungrateful mountains disappeared, all that I saw was emptyness. And the light. The light grew, larger and stronger, engulfing my arm, expanding, receding, taunting me. It engulfed my body…

And then, feeling a sharp pain on my cheek, everything returned. Looking around, the townpeople had surrounded me and were looking on angrily. I'm the young one, and the adults apparently had seen fit to punish me for spacing out while I'm doing their jobs. The whole group glared at me, the leader of the mob spoke. "We found you six months ago, and were gracious enough to take you in. Now, you'd better work…" He started to shake his fist, "Or else we'll hurt you BAD."

Something started welling up inside me. It wasn't anger, but it wasn't my usual state of apathy. What could this feeling be? Tears sprang to my eyes, I didn't even know what was going on. What was happening to me. A great amount of this… 'feeling', it made me screw up my face, it made me suffer in the worst amount of agony.

Was this sadness?

I looked upon the villagers, and I cried and cried. The looks of satisfaction on their faces, it told me that they thought I was crying from the wound I had suffered. But, no. It was different. It was strange, a foreign land to my limited mind. I couldn't fully grasp it, but it was there. "This is how heroes are made." The voice once again invaded the lands. "Now go, and BE a hero…"

The light returned, and I looked downwards. I stared into the light, imagining the solace within. What I had found was much different, but it occurred to me that I could still find it… But what am I searching for? This idea still had no meaning in my head, I needed to find out why these thoughts kept appearing like they did.

The idea in my hand was painfully real. The villagers were rooted in place, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. "He's… He's… He has an ARM…?" So, that's what it was. The thing in my hands, the extension of my body. It's an ARM. Like a third limb…

And then, I pulled the trigger.

Later, in the midst of smouldering ruins, I realized. Not only had I set myself free, I had set everybody in that town free. I was a true hero. The last hero on the face of this dying planet.

Now, I have to set all the others free. The last… The true last. The Omega.