Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai

LOST & FOUND

By: Lunarsun

A long time ago, there was a valiant swordsman whom came to be known simply as "The Hero". The people had been suffering at the hands of an evil demon. Upon arriving, the hero challenged the demon to a battle…the hero and his companions combined their powers and brought the battle to a swift conclusion. Thanks to them, the despicable monsters who were once controlled by the demon were freed from the demon's evil volitions. With no on around to cause trouble, the island became a quite place where everyone could live together in peace.

It is from these humble beginning, that the tale of the hero Dai began, and it is in this type of world that I wished it had ended. The hero Dai started off as a simple boy whom was found by my master one day on an island full of monsters that had once more started to sink into madness. This was the first signs of the demon's return, and by my master's intervening …the process was stopped and the monsters there remain sane.

It would seem that, Dai, had always dreamt of being a hero, and our chance encounter brought his dream within his grasp. He wasn't about to let it go, especially after having to experience helplessness with his own Ji-chan trying to push him off the Island before he lost his sense too.

I guess, I should have started off explaining …that Dai grew up on a Island with nothing more than monsters on it. Not a single human lived there, and that Ji-chan, the one who raised him …is a monster as well. He is a kind & very knowledgeable monster that acted as Dai's parent and guardian on the Island. His dream for Dai's future and Dai's own didn't match up with him wanting to make him a mage, and Dai wanted to be a hero. Though, Ji-chan never once tried to stop him …not even once from reaching the goal that he wanted. Thus, my writing this down is just to give you some idea of Dai's background.

Anyway, from that encounter, my master discovered great potential in Dai, and decided to make him his student …as I was. Dai and I trained together on that Island for only a few days under our sensei, Avan. I didn't care too much for Dai back then, and held my own skills as a mage over him then. It is funny when I looked at that time back then …I can't help, but feel that I was a completely different person. I was arrogant and a coward then, but, Dai …even back then he was a hero.

The time he spent under my sensei's tutoring was short, but it was definitely an eye opener as he learned about the sword & the magic of the blade. I have no clue how much further ahead we would have been if we had been allowed to stay with him, but, maybe, it was better than way. After Dai was given his test, the demon itself paid us a visit. A visit that set us on a journey to put an end to the demon's evil way …as sensei Avan gave his life to save us from him. A death that hurt me & that I tried to followed trying to save Dai from his own father. He was at that time the reasoning for me to go to deal with the Demon Lord, and a constant inspiration through out our adventures.

We ventured out into the world, and gained more comrades and fought many battles. We even later discovered much that our sensei didn't die, and together we put down the mastermind behind it all. The true Dark Lord and all should have been right with the world. It should had been a happy ending, but, it would seem that our lives would never be a fairytale. In the final battle, when we thought we had victory assure, a single dirty trick was played and with it …we lost Dai. His sword buried in the spot where the flying fortress had been defeated as a constant remainder of our victory, but also of what we have lost.

It has been one year since we lost Dai, and the world hasn't been totally peaceful but it hasn't been in the turmoil that it was before he left. Everyone is busy rebuilding, trying to piece together the lives that was shattered in the war & the destruction of their homelands. The comrades that had travel and played together … separated the moment that we were no longer needed. For while others rebuild homes, we had to not only build, but find a place for ourselves in the world that we had fought so hard to protect.

It is a real eye opener.

I have to say this now, I am kind of glad that Dai isn't here. To have to see the world as it is now isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. There are many that were killed in the days of the near annihilation, and there are the wounded and the crippled to think of as well from the aftermath of it. We stopped a great evil, but smaller saplings hadn't a scratch on them …as people worked together and others worked against those whom tried to live honestly. Dai knew, the truth behind humanity, but I don't think he understood what it really detailed.

Me, Marm, & Merle, had to learn the hard way what it detailed. We saw parents starving after the destruction of their homes. The results of surviving no matter what, as we walked into kingdoms filled with corpse and saw people doing whatever was possible to survive. This included killing, stealing, and taking advantage of the innocent, and it seemed that as they traveled through some of the longer captured territories of the Demon Lord ... that was just the tip of the iceberg.

When we were caught up in the fighting, we didn't really have the time to think about them. We didn't think about the families that were torn apart, or the ones that would have family members return to them that aren't the same any longer. We simply focused on making it stop, and now that I look back on it all …I realized how naïve I was. Though, I guess if I hadn't been …I probably wouldn't have been able to succeed then or to push forward today. I would have run away, and hid under some rock as people try to call me their hero, but, when I look at them I have to shake my head sadly. I am just a human like them, but, I was lucky enough to follow a true hero & to accompany probably the best one every born.

Thank you, Dai, and just to let you know ….we will always be thinking of you.

Pop

I finished the last lines of my journal as I put it away. We all had our ways of dealing with Dai's lost, and this was mine. I always wrote down the things that I figured that I would love to tell Dai some day …just in case he isn't really dead, and instead is trapped somewhere beyond our reach. IF he ever comes back, and if we aren't around to tell him …I made it a point to write about our lives and the stories I would love for him to know.

It is what I left behind, but I hope beyond hope that I can share it with him.

Yawning lightly, I tuck the small black book away into my cape. There was no sense of me carrying it around in my hands …as I looked out at the campfire to see …Marm sleeping across from me. Dai, the world was a different place then …a scary place that seemed devoid of hope, until you came alone to change all of that. Now, that world had come back again, and this time it's not a monster that threaten us, but our own weaknesses. Someday, I hope we can overcome these, and someday, I hope to see you again. Though, no matter what, I am going to be thankful for what I have & what the future can bring.

I smiled lightly, and then I get up and put out the fire for night …as I watch her sleep peacefully. My hope, someday …maybe she will be able to recognize my feelings and her own.