"I've been having these weird thoughts lately…"

"Like is any of this for real or not?"

A boy was on a beach. His eyes skimmed the area in the bright sunlight. He had to find his friends.

Another boy stood in the ocean. The boy's hand reached out to get him, but he couldn't reach before the tidal wave came. They were plunged underneath the water. He reached for the boy, but the water pushed him away back onto the shore.

A girl stood above him. She laughed at him and he smiled as she watched him stand up. A look of concern formed on her face and he looked up. He watched himself fall into the water and suddenly he fell back, plunging into the water much like his replica. The girl watched him fall, but neither could reach the other. He continued the plunge into the water, into the Darkness.

Suddenly, there was light. Birds flew around him, surrounded him as they flew off the ground and into the Darkness. Below him was a stained glass platform. The glass was a deep pink with girl on it. The girl, surrounded by a heart, was a blonde in a pink dress. A small golden crown rested on her forehead, and a blue gem sat on her chest. White gloves covered her hands and lower arms.

"So much to do, so little time…Take your time. Don't be afraid. The door is still shut." A voice seemed to come from nowhere. He looked around anxiously in search of a source, but as expected, he was unable to place its location.

"Now, step forward," the voice said. "Can you do it?"

He slowly walked towards the center of the stained glass. His eyes were wary of the new surroundings. He had no idea where he was. All he wanted was his friends. They had to be somewhere. In time with the voices phrase, three platforms arose from the glass with weapons surrounding them. "Power sleeps within you…If you give it form…It will give you strength."

"Choose well."

He examined the three weapons. The first was a silver sword. The hilt connected to it was gold with a red hand guard. On a green gem between the hand guard and the gold connecting to the blade was a red mushroom with two eyes. The second weapon was a black shield with red borders. The same mushroom rested within the center of the shield. The final weapon was a staff with a green and gold handle. On the top was another of the mushrooms. He walked over to the sword.

"The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?" He shook his head to the question. An ultimate power for destruction wasn't his goal at all. The sword returned to the pedestal, and he looked towards the other two. He decided to look at the shield next.

"The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is the power you seek?" He nodded. His friends meant a lot to him, and a power to protect them sounded pretty good. The shield disappeared.

"Your path is set. Now what will you give up in exchange?" He looked over the final two weapons and walked over to the staff.

"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You give up this power." He nodded again.

"You've chosen the power of the guardian. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?" He nodded a final time. The three pedestals fell into darkness just before the stained glass shattered. He found himself on another platform. This one had another girl. The girl wore a golden dress in a similar style to the earlier blonde and dark brown hair. She too had on white gloves over her arms. The glass itself was golden, and a flower surrounded her.

"You gained the power to fight," the voice said. The shield reappeared in his hands, unfortunately, some enemies also appeared. The enemies were a pitch black with glowing yellow eyes. They had two black antennae emerging from their heads. He hit one with his shield, and it vanished in a puff of black smoke. "All right! You've got it. Use this power to protect yourself and others. There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong." He swung the shield at another foe, and then another, bashing at them to beat each of the foes slowly and methodically beat each of the foes.

"Behind you!" It was shouted in warning. He turned around and hit the enemy behind him. His shield destroyed it quickly. Afterwards, he turned back to the remaining foes until the enemies were all gone from the platform. A pool of darkness formed beneath his feet, sucking him down off the platform.

Now the platform was red. Instead of a girl, there were three silhouettes surrounded by hearts. The new platform had a door on it, but that was all. He walked towards the door and pulled on the handles. "It won't open…" he said. The voice didn't answer him. Assuming it would talk again when ready, he looked around the platform only to see a chest appear. He walked over and opened the chest to find a glowing green liquid. He picked it up and pocketed it. As there was nothing else of interest, he opened the door only for a bright light to flash.

When the light faded, he was back on his island and surrounded by three friends of his, two boys and one girl. "Hold on the door won't open just yet. First, tell me about yourself."

Without much of a choice, he walked over to the first of his friends, a dark skinned male with dark orange hair. "Hey Wakka," he said.

"What do you want outta life?" Wakka asked.

"Huh?"

"What do you want outta life," Wakka repeated. The boy acted as though he'd never spoke.

"To broaden my horizons…I guess…" he said.

"To broaden your horizons, huh?" Wakka asked.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked. He received no further response. He walked over to the lone female of the group, a girl with light brown hair and green eyes.

"What's most important to you?" the girl asked.

"Oh no! Not you too!" he said in shock.

"What's most important to you?" she repeated.

After a moment, he decided on his answer, "Friendship."

"Is friendship really such a big deal?" Assuming she wouldn't answer further, much like Wakka, he walked to the final boy, a blonde with blue eyes.

"What are you afraid of?" the boy asked.

"Being indecisive," he answered.

"Being indecisive? Is that really so scary?" the boy asked.

"You want to broaden your horizons. You value your friendship. You're afraid of being indecisive," the voice quickly recapped his earlier decisions. "Your adventure begins in the dead of night. Your road won't be easy, but a rising sun awaits your journey's end."

"Sounds good," he said. He had to wonder if the journey going to be that hard in the future. He could still only wonder what the voice was talking about.

"The day you will open the door is both far off and very near…"

The islands around him vanished. He was now on a new platform, one with a picture of a girl in a light blue dress this time. The girl had pale blonde hair going over one eye and a rod with a star in her hand. A silver crown rested on top of her head and a little star creature was nearby her, appearing to bounce around with glee. More of the enemies appeared. He summoned his shield once more and began bashing them in as quickly as possible. One after the other, the creatures fell to his shield until none remained. A set of stained glass stairs appeared. He walked up them, one by one, each step vanishing as he moved forward.

The stairs lead to another stained glass platform. This one was a light purple with the image of two girls. The first had long pink hair and brown eyes. The girl wore a brown fuzzy vest that cut off around her green tank top and shorts. The second had short brown hair and glasses. She wore a green top and black skirt. In both of their hands was a black cat plushie. "The closer you get to the light the greater your shadow becomes."

He turned around at what the voice said. His shadow was huge, which he assumed to mean he was close to the end of the journey. The shadow rose seconds later. It was alive, thoroughly startling him. It wasn't long before it grew even larger, now a large black creature of some form. The creature had two giant fists and feet and a mass of tangle on its head that could be deemed hair. In the chest cavity of the creature was a large heart shaped hole. "Wh-what?" He tried to run away from the large shadow to the stair case, but it was gone, just a large black chasm remained.

"But don't be afraid. And don't forget…" He had no choice. He turned to face the large monster. His shield hit the creature's hand. It hardly seemed to notice the damage. The monster punched the ground where he stood and summoned a pool of darkness where two of the earlier enemies emerged from the ground. He bashed the creature's hand on the ground as well as the two little enemies. Its hand emerged from the ground, and it began to fire dark sphere like projectiles at the boy. He blocked the projectiles with his shield, but some hit him and some bounced off. The ones that bounced off hit the monster in the head and seemed to deal more damage to it. He made note of its weak point before beginning to hit the creature once more on its hands as it punched the ground, this time creating a shock wave that he had to jump over to take out. As he went to hit it with his shield once more, the weapon vanished. He tried to call it back to his hands, but with no luck. The creature punched the floor once more, generating the pool of darkness.

This time, he was unable to escape. The tendrils of darkness managed to start dragging his body down. He panicked, wildly flailing to escape. "But don't be afraid." He couldn't help his panic. The voice wasn't the one drowning in darkness.

"You hold the mightiest weapon of all." He didn't understand. Was the voice talking about something else or the shield? If his "mightiest weapon" vanished and appeared whenever it chose, it would be a rough battle, just as the voice predicted. His head was covered by the darkness now, drowning out all his vision quickly.

"So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door."