Author's Note: Yes, I know. I'm sorry for restarting this again, but this time will be the last time I restart. I promise. Real life can sometimes get under my skin, thus affecting my writing. So, without further ado, let's get down to the new story of The Legend of Dragoon!

Chapter I: The Day of Tragedy

It was a normal day in the winter time, and a young boy named Stryfe was out in the fields playing with his best friend, Dart Feld. Taking the snow from the ground and rolling it in his hands, Stryfe threw a snowball at Dart, who kindly repayed the favor by throwing one back at him.

Stryfe: Ouch! Hey, no fair, Dart!

Dart: You started it, Stryfe!

Stryfe: Oh, now it's on!

The two boys began playing a game of cat and mouse with each other, using the fields as cover while they hunted each other. Though Stryfe looked happy on the surface, deep down he was tormented. A year ago, his father had changed from a kind and loving man to a cold and senseless monster, beating up his mother even when she did nothing wrong and drowning his pain in numerous alcoholic beverages.

Stryfe didn't know the entire reason why his father changed, but the only thing he knew was that his grandparents were murdered by beings that his father continuously referred to as "The Winged Ones". Despite all of the recent trauma though, Stryfe tried to keep his spirits high, especially for his mother's sake. As Stryfe came out of the brush, he saw Dart simply standing still, his gaze looking off towards something distant.

Stryfe: Dart, what is it?

Dart: Stryfe...Th-The Village!

Stryfe: What!?

As Stryfe looked towards his and Dart's home village of Neet, his eyes widened as he saw black smoke and orange flames covering every building within his sight. His heart raced with fear as he realized that his mother and father, could be in danger. Stryfe and Dart began to race towards the village, hoping to find their parents still alive.

When Stryfe raced towards his home, he found it in flames, with the entire structure looking as if it could collapse at any moment. He tried to move his legs, but fear kept him from moving a muscle. Just then, he heard a woman's scream coming from within, which caused his heart rate to skyrocket.

Stryfe: MOMMY!

Racing into the burning inferno, Stryfe began digging through the debris, hoping to find any signs of life. Finally, he found his mother, buried underneath a piece of the roof that had collapsed from structural damage. Feeling his heart race, Stryfe began to try and lift the debris off of his mother before she was burned alive by the flames around them.

Despite his brave effort, however, Stryfe was unable to move the piece of debris off of his mother, it's weight too much for the four year old to lift. Then,
Stryfe heard his mother call to him.

Vitile: Stryfe...

Stryfe: Mommy?! Mommy, hang on! I'm gonna get you out of here!

Vitile: Stryfe, I want you...to have this...Please, take it...

Vitile held out her hand to Stryfe, holding an indigo orb shaped stone within. It was her lucky stone, and she was never seen without it. As Stryfe took it into his hands, he realized that his mother had given up on escaping the burning house alive.

Stryfe: No...Mommy, no! It's not too late!

Vitile: Stryfe...You must...live...Escape Neet...while you...still can...

Stryfe: Mommy!

Vitile: Remember...That I...will always...Lo...ve...you...

Stryfe: MOMMY!

As Stryfe watched as his mothers' eyes turn gray, tears began to fill his eyes as he reached for her lifeless arm. Before he could manage to touch her, another piece of the roof came down on him. Feeling his legs being nearly crushed as the debris fell on him, Stryfe tried frantically to get the debris off of him, but heat exhaustion and the pain from his legs sapped his strength, and he eventually collapsed from the strain.

Just as he was about to pass out, though, he heard a middle aged mans' voice call out his name and his mother's name.

"Stryfe! Vitile!"

As his vision began to fade, Stryfe saw the man racing towards him and the house before everything went dark. When he began coming too, he faintly heard the mans' voice again, alongside a woman's voice and Dart's voice as well.

"Put him in here! This fallen tree should shelter all of us!"

Stryfe: Ugh...Uhhh...

"Darling, Stryfe's beginning to awaken!"

Stryfe: Uhh...Mommy...

Opening his eyes, Stryfe saw Dart, his mother Claire, and father Zieg standing over him. His head was on Claire's lap, and his legs were being wrapped up by Dart while Zieg was looking outside towards the village. As soon as he realized he was outside of Neet, Stryfe flew up frantically, but the pain in his legs caused him to lay back down.

Claire: Easy, Stryfe. You shouldn't try and move, lest you tear the muscle tissue even more.

Stryfe: , please let me go! I have to save my mom! I have to save her!

Dart grabbed Stryfe, making sure he couldn't move.

Dart: Get a hold of yourself, Stryfe! Dad just risked his life to save you from your burning home!

Stryfe: ...did what?

Claire: Zieg?

Zieg turned from looking at the village upon hearing his wife call to him. He seemed to he relieved that Stryfe was awake. Pulling out Vitile's stone from his pocket, Zieg walked towards Stryfe and handed it to him. As Stryfe took the stone from Zieg's hand, Stryfe saw that Zieg had a sad look in his eyes.

Stryfe: ...Where is my mom?

Zieg: I'm sorry, Stryfe...I tried to save her too, but...The house collapsed before I could reach her...

Stryfe felt his heart twist in pain when he heard those words trail across his ears. As he struggled to hold back the tears, he suddenly remembered that his father was in the village as well. Though he had bitter feelings towards him, Stryfe looked at Zieg again, trying his best to keep the sorrow at bay.

Stryfe: What about...Dad?

Zieg only shook his head slowly in response. It was at that moment that it felt like the dam that was trying to contain Stryfe's sorrow broke, allowing his feelings to flow like a raging current through his heart. As he held his mother's stone close to his chest, Stryfe could only cry out in sorrow.

Just as Dart went to comfort him, Zieg wandered back outside. As he gazed at the still burning Neet in the distance, Claire got up and walked towards him.
Although Stryfe was still crying, he could still barely make out what Zieg and Claire were conversing about up until Zieg's last few words, after he shared an emotional embrace with Claire.

Zieg: Take care of Dart. Stryfe as well.

Claire: I will.

Stryfe and Dart watched as Zieg raced back towards the village, with Claire only watching as he eventually disappeared into the flames consuming the village. Dart got up and walked toward his mother, turning his gaze towards the burning Neet. He then saw Claire ruffle her hand through Darts' spiky blonde hair, a sight that made Stryfe think of the times when his mother did the same exact thing across his spiky black hair.

Claire: Your father is a strong person, Dart. You have that strength in you too, Dart. So...

Dart: Mother?

Claire: You can wait here with Stryfe, okay. You two both have that strength.

Dart: Where are you going?

Claire: I'm going back to fight.

Dart: Really?

Stryfe: ?

Upon hearing what Claire was going to do, Stryfe stopped crying and found the strength to stand up. Although he had trouble balancing himself due to the pain in his legs, he managed to find the strength to leave the fallen tree log and approach his best friend and his mother.

Stryfe: Why? Why are you going back there?

Claire: I will protect your home, with Zieg. With your father, Dart.

Dart: Mommy...No...

Stryfe: You can't...

As Claire got up and was about to head back down the path to Neet, she turned around and faced Stryfe and Dart one last time.

Claire: Live strong. Both of you.

Dart: MOMMY!

When Claire began running down the path, Dart tried to go after her, only to trip on a loose root from the fallen tree. As Stryfe limped over to help his best friend, the two could only look on as Claire disappeared into the flames consuming Neet. Slowly walking back towards the tree log, the two boys were forced to wait out the cold night, with the sound of flames burning in the background raging for almost the entire duration of the dark hours.

As Stryfe awoke early the next morning, there was nothing but eerie silence as he looked outside the tree log. Fortunately, his legs felt well enough for him to walk normally again. After he woke Dart up, he and Stryfe walked down the path to find their home town of Neet completely changed.

The buildings that had once housed people they knew were now charred and ruined, and the trees and the field where Stryfe and Dart had a snowball fight the day before was now burned to their cores, leaving only lifeless charred ground and stumps in their places. While Dart went to look for his parents, Stryfe wanted to see what became of his home.

When he finally found where his home once stood, Stryfe was completely devastated. The only thing that remained of his home was the door, which now barely reached above the ground, while everything else was charred and burned to the ground. Stryfe even saw the place where his mother was, but her body was now gone, the only thing in her place was a small pile of ashes scattered in the shape of a body.

In one day, Stryfe not only his home, but both his parents. As he kneeled down on the ground, pounding the ground around him with his fists in a raging sorrow, a strange sound suddenly stopped him. He then saw that something was glowing in his pocket in the same area where he put his mothers' stone.

Stryfe: Wha...what is?

Taking out his mothers' stone, Stryfe saw that it was faintly glowing with a pale light in his hands. Stryfe suddenly began to recall the same thing happening to his mother, when he saw her holding it once a year ago when he was three.

Stryfe: Mother...

Holding his mothers' stone close to his heart, time seemed to stop as he silently mourned the loss of his mother. When Stryfe reunited with Dart, he found that Dart's father had a remarkably similar stone like his mothers', albeit it was red instead of indigo. As the two boys held the stones close together, the faint lights the two stones gave off suddenly became brighter, as if they were responding to one another.

Dart: Mom...Dad...

Stryfe: Mom...

Gathering the little that they could of what was left, Stryfe and Dart began to wander through the continent of Endiness, traveling between the three regions of the continent until they finally found the south eastern village of Seles. There, they meet the mayor of the town, along with his adoptive daughter, Shana. The two boys quickly befriended Shana, and they got used to their new life in the village of Seles.

However, as he entered his teenage years, Stryfe began to notice that his best friend was planning something. Something that involved the creature that destroyed Neet, which they learned about when they became old enough: the Black Monster...