Dreadman75: Ladies and Gentlemen, after much deliberation (and a couple of concussions) me and my partner in crime Snipa have decided to rewrite the entire prologue to The Legacy of the Shadow Walkers. Our goal this time 'round is to help make it more interesting to read, while correcting some of the atrocious continuity errors present in the first version. Snipa do you have anything to add?

Snipa: Meh, not much. Just enjoy and tell us how we did.

Dreadman75: And with that we hope you will enjoy this rewritten prologue.

Dreadman75 & Snipa: We own no part of any anime, book, game, or anything else that may appear in this fic now or any later chapter.

Chapter 1

… "Gasp! Huff huff."

A young boy, no more than seven years old, woke with a start and suddenly sat straight up from the bed he had been sleeping in. 'Where am I?' he thought. Looking around he saw he was in a room where Grey seemed to be the theme. Grey metal was what made up both the floor and the walls. There was a white curtain to his left obscuring his view of most of the room. He was lying in a bed positioned near the corner of the room, covered in white sheets. In his left arm was a tube connected to a bag on a stand, the bag was filled with a clear liquid being fed into the tube and into his body. Turning his head to the right he saw some sort of machine in the corner next to the bed, it had a rectangular glass face that flashed different colors and had buttons beneath it that had characters depicted on them.

While staring in fascination at the device the boy became vaguely aware of something soft and restricting covering his face. He lifted his hands up and felt around, and discovered that his entire head was wrapped up in a cloth of some sort. 'Where did this come from? Did I get hurt?' The closed his eyes and tried to recall why he was lying in bed in some strange place. He opened his eyes and they adopted a somber look, 'Why can't I remember anything?' he thought to himself. He closed his eyes again and once more tried to recall any memories from before waking up in this strange room. After a few moments he reopened them again with a sigh, 'It's no use, I can't remember anything at all. How did I get here? WHERE is here? Who brought me here?' His thoughts continued along that path for about five minutes before laid back down and stared at the ceiling. His last thought was, 'Who am I?'

Whirrrrr...

He jerked up at the noise. It sounded like something had opened, he was soon proven right when something floated, literally floated, around the curtain and faced him. His eyes widened as he looked at this new arrival in his room. It was another type of machine like the one next to his bed. The differences between the two, however, were immediately obvious. This machine had a vaguely teardrop shaped body made up of what looked like metal fins with gaps between them, allowing you to see some of the machine's insides. It had a single blue "eye" that was fixated intently upon him, it's unblinking stare making the boy uncomfortable, this feeling was intensified a moment later when the eye began to glow. Suddenly there was a flash, the boy flinched and closed his eyes while holding his arms up to try and shield his head from whatever was was happening.

A minute went by and after feeling no pain the boy opened his eyes. The machine's eye had a blue beam emanating from it, he looked at his skin to find that instead of an attack a horizontal line of light was moving up and down from his lower torso to his head. After a few times back and forth the beam went back into the eye and the machine turned away and began floating back out the door.

"Hey wait!" the boy said after the machine.

The machine, paying him no mind, continued around the curtain and out where it came in from. Another whir later and the boy was all alone once more.

The boy could only sit there and wonder what had just happened. After a few minutes of staring at nothing in particular the boy had a thought, 'I need to know where I am, and maybe that thing can tell me what happened...' he looked at the tube in his arm as he was thinking '...this thing needs to come out first.' He grabbed the end of the needle stuck in his arm and began to slowly pull it out. He winced as pain equal to that of a pinch came on as a result. A few seconds later however the needle was out and hanging off the bed spewing the clear liquid all over the floor.

The boy slowly pushed himself off the bed and put his feet on the floor. Carefully standing up, the boy took a few steps, satisfied that he was barely wobbling he walked around the curtain and through the door on the other side.

When the boy exited the door, he was stopped by a wall right in front of him. He looked to his left and right and saw that this was actually a long hallway; the ends of which could not be seen. Several black doors and whole in the walls signifying other hallways lined the walls of this hallway. Careful as to not attract too much attention, he quietly moved to his right. After a few yards he came to a door on his left. He felt the knob and saw that is wasn't locked. He carefully opened the door, and it didn't squeak at all.

He peeked inside, and gasped. Inside the room were several of the floating machines he saw earlier. They were all either offline and in special holding containers, or doing something to the offline bots. Nearby, a computer screen was filing away large amounts of data as it flew across the screen. The words were flying by so fast that it made the kid a little dizzy. He carefully backed out of the room, and closed the door. He continued down the hallway.

In many of the rooms, there was what looked like medical equipment, more machine stations, laboratories filled with strange chemicals. One of the rooms made the kid stop though.

It was a library. The kid was at the top of a flight of stairs that went down into the center of the room. The room was circular in design, and many many bookshelves lined the walls, and spiraled around the center of the room. In the center of the room, a desk with what looked like several books all over it's top. The kid looked around, and saw that no one was in the room. He quickly moved down the steps. 'If there is one thing I remember is that books are a great source of information. Maybe I can find out where I am.' He quickly moved to a random shelf near the center, and started to look at the titles. But his hopes were dashed, as he couldn't read the titles of the books. 'They must be in a different language.' He wandered around the room hoping to find something in his language. On the outer edge of the room, he finally found a shelf with books that he could read. 'Let's see, science? No. I need something about history.' He thought. He kept looking, and even brought a ladder to climb up and see if he could find something. Alas, the entire section was dedicated to science and mathematical theories. He climbed down the ladder, and put it back. He walked back to the door, and exited the library.

As he walked down the hallway, a machine that was different then the ones from before flew right by him. It had a saucer like design with four metal arms coming out of the bottom of it. It seemed weird that it was slightly different then the rest of them.

After a while of searching more rooms, he came to another door. This one was different. Instead of a solid black color like all the rest, this one was solid red, and had waves of green coming from around the edges. As he inspected it, he saw that the green stuff was actually vines. He tested the knob, and found that it was open.

He opened it, and gasped once more. Inside of the 'room' was an entire forest. He could hear birds sing, and strange from animals coming from from the strange foliage. He stepped inside, and the door shut behind him. He quickly turned around to look at the door. That's when a confused look dominated his eyes. He looked all over it, and grew even more confused. The door resembled a seven foot high cinder block that was only two inches wide. The door was literally standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest. There was nothing behind it whatsoever. The kid opened the door again, and saw that it was the same hallway he was in earlier.

The kid tilted his head to the side trying to figure it out, but it only hurt his brain. He decided to go back into the hallway, as he had no clue what was in the forest, and didn't want to get lost. He was searching for answers, not adventure.

He continued down the hallway, searching for more clues as to where he was. His current trip led him to a turn of the hallway, and a solid black door. He opened the door to see that it had a wooden desk, and paper's on the desk. A solid black symbols that looked like IV was on it. He somehow knew that meant 4. He silently, backed out, seeing that no one was here.

As he closed the door, he turned to continue down the hallway, only to run into a black obstruction. The kid fell on his ass, and winced in pain. He looked up to see that it was a human figure standing over him dressed in all black. The figure was wearing a loose black shirt that was tight around the wrists and waist, with black leather gloves travelling halfway up the forearm. The pants were also loose, with black leather boots for feet. The figure showed that it was clearly a woman. The woman wore a hood, and despite his angle he couldn't see her face at all. The woman stood at around five feet nine inches.

On the woman's chest there was the single symbol of a Roman Numeral I. Around her waist was a thick belt that looked to be made of cloth, and on it was a emblem-like design with the design of a black bird on it. It had characters under it that the boy couldn't read, but somehow he understood anyways. It said "Guardians". The boy stared at it trying to figure out why he could read it even though it wasn't in his language. 'What is my language, anyways?' He was broken from his concentration when the figure moved, and helped the boy stand up.

The figure chuckled. "Well, well. Looks like the Sleeping Beauty woke up." The voice had a soft feminine tone.

"Wh-who are you?" The boy tilted his head to the side trying to figure out how to see the woman's face.

"My name is Fay Aleara." She bent down to make herself look less intimidating. The boy could see a glint coming from where the woman's eyes would be. "What's your name?"

The kid furrowed his brow. "I... I don't know."

The womanly figure went ridged for a second. "Do you remember anything before you woke up in the infirmary?"

The kid shook his head. "One of the first things I remember is a weird machine coming into my room, and shooting a blue line at me."

The woman sighed and shook her head, the hood shaking with it. "I guess that was to be expected." She sounded kind of sad, and tilted her head down. They stood like that in silence.

After a few minutes, the boy suddenly spoke up. "Um... where am I?"

The woman looked back up. "You are in the science and investigations department of the Castle Necrux."

The boy looked at her like she had two heads.

"Don't worry," The woman chuckled. "You'll get used to it here."

"So... what are you, and what do you do here?" The boy asked, determined to get SOMETHING useful out of her.

"I am a Guardian. To be specific, the leader of the Guardians, number 1." She said.

"What does a Guardian do?" He asked.

"We protect Existence from rouge gods." She said without missing a beat.

Now the boy was even more confused. "Existence? Rouge Gods? Am I in some bat-shit crazy story made by a couple weirdos, that's being pre-read by an equally weird teenager whose sanity is highly questionable?" (Both of the author's sneeze, while the beta smiles with insanity)

The woman chuckled. "No. This is reality. Sometimes a god will go rouge, and we must take them down, and restore balance."

"Balance?"

The woman sighed. "One question after another from you. You're just as bad as Herald." She said quietly. "I guess we should start from the beginning, and then work from there." She stood up. "Come on. Were going to go see a special someone here in the castle." She took the boy's hand, and walked down the hallway.

Clashing of metal could be heard from one of the doors they passed. The door was also ajar, so the boy could peak in.

Two men were fighting one another, they were wearing the same outfit as Fay was. Disappearing only to reappear a second later with two odd weapons clashing against one another. They pushed off, and stood at opposite ends of the room.

That was all the boy could see before he was pulled by Fay. As they walked away they could hear clashing of metal once more.

"Do you know why I can't remember anything?" The boy asked.

The woman didn't turn. "Those bandages on you are to help cover up some of the injuries you received before you lost consciousness. Though that was a good month ago, and most of it has healed now."

"So why does my head still hurt a little?" He asked.

She stopped and looked at him. "You went into a red door, didn't you?"

He nodded.

The woman chuckled. "Don't worry, I still get a headache from those as well." She turned, and started to half drag, half carry the kid once more.

After what seemed like miles and miles of miles of walking, turning, and moving in what seemed like circles for a while, they came up to a red door at the end of a long hallway.

The door had a panel to the right of it. On the panel were three devices: a screen, something that looked like a pair a goggles poking out of the wall, and a pad with a lot of buttons on it. Fay took her glove off to show creamy white skin, and put her hand on the screen. A green line dashed across the screen, and high pitched noise was heard. Then Fay put her head to the goggles, and a light flashed in it. Another high pitched noise was heard. Fay then put in a series of numbers, that the boy couldn't figure out which buttons she hit. Again, a high pitched noise was heard, and a clicking sound came from the door.

Fay went to the door, grabbed the handle on said door, and opened it. Inside was a large domed room. The high point of which the kid couldn't see. The kid could honestly think he could sprint all out, and then run out of energy long before he got to the other wall. In the center was a much smaller dome. It almost looked like an igloo. The door that was coming out of the small structure looked a lot like the door they just went through. They walked for what seemed like minutes to get to the igloo.

The woman let go of his hand, and said. "Stand here." He watched as the woman stood in a large red circle that was in front of the door. The panel to the right of the door only had one small hole in it. Fay put her finger into the hole, and a light shined out of it. When she pulled her hand back, there was a small drip of blood coming from her finger. The wound healed immediately, making her young charge blink a couple of times in surprise, she then brought out a small piece of black cloth from seemingly nowhere, took the blood off her finger, and made the cloth vanish again. She put her glove back on, and then motioned the boy to come over. The boy walked over just as Fay opened the red door.

They walked through a short hallway, and then the kid felt a wave of déjà vu. The inside of the igloo turned out to be just as large as the last room... or did they get smaller? He turned to look back into the other room to test his theory, but the red door was already closed.

In the center of the room was, once again, an igloo. And once again, a red door with a panel to the right of the door. This one had a white rimmed circle in front of the door. They approached the igloo figure once more after a long walk there.

"Stay here." She said again, and then walked into the circle.

"Voice recognition required. Quis est vox?" said a computer voice.

"Scientia est vox," Fay responded.

"Password confirmed. Please hold still for one moment." it said.

A light glowed from beneath Fay. The light originated from below her and, like a scanner, traveled upwards vertically. When the light passed her head it disappeared, and the door clicked open.

"Monomezurashii is currently sleeping, be careful." said the computer somehow ominously, yet still monotone.

Fay nodded, and motioned for the boy to come over. When he got close, she bent over to look him in the eyes."Listen, kid. When I open this door, I want you to be absolutely silent until I call for you. Understood? Oh, and watch out for the toys and dangerous objects on the ground."

The kid nodded, feeling the tone said 'no joke' in it to get the tone across.

She stood back up, and turned the knob of the red door. When they walked in, the feeling of déjà vu passed through him once more, and they were, once again, in a room with an impossibly high dome for a ceiling. 'Does the room grow, or do we shrink?' he thought. The room was not the same as the last two. One, the kid could see the top of it, as large screens, tiled every single inch of the walls and dome, lit up the room. Each screen was showing a different image. Some showed people, while others showed places.

When the kid looked down, he could see what she meant by toys and dangerous objects. Littered on the ground were toys ranging from dolls, to complexly designed, machine-like play-things that shined. He also saw swords, both sheathed and unsheathed, lances, spears. As they were walking, Fay suddenly bent over. She picked up a strange device, and they continued to walk towards the center of the room.

When they first entered the domed room, the boy had seen a soft blue light, but he quickly disregarded it as he thought it was just another screen. As they approached the center of the room, the kid could see that it was actually a light floating in the center of the room. Once they got within 50 feet of the light, the kid could see that it was a small girl, curled up and sleeping in the center.

They stopped just outside of a grey circle the was on the floor, signifying that it was the center of the room. Fay put her hand on his shoulder, and made a stopping motion with her hand. It was a signal for him to stand there. She walked up to the floating blue girl, who was floating just three feet off the ground. Fay put her arms around the girl, and the girl automatically snuggled into the woman's chest.

The girl didn't look old. She looked to be around two years old, and small. The woman's arms were holding her gently.

Fay turned around, and walked slowly back to the boy. The girl looked much happier in her arms, than when she was by herself, if the thumb in her smiling mouth had any say in it. Fay stopped in front of the kid, and sat down gently as to not wake the sleeping girl. She motioned for the boy to sit next to her, and get comfortable.

After an hour of the woman gently rocking the girl in her arms, the girl stirred, and her eyes slowly opened up. The first thing the girl focused on was the woman's chest, and then she looked up into the hood. A large smile went across her face. "FAY-CHAN!" And somehow glomped the woman from the cradled position.

"Hey there, Monome-chan. How are you?" She hugged her.

"Happy now that you're here." She smiled, and backed up. She was floating above the ground. Now that she wasn't so jumbled, the kid could get a good look at her. She had long flowing puffy hair that was the length of her 3 foot long body. Her skin, hair, eyes, and clothes were all different shades of a glowing blue with her skin as the lightest of the blues, and her eyes as the darkest. She had on a small light blue dress that went down to her knees.

"Monome-chan, I have someone here that I'd like for you to look at, and then we're going to tell him the story of the Guardians." He could hear her voice smile at that.

"YAY!" He said happily, and then flew over to the boy. She got up close and personal, almost kissing him, or would have been if he didn't have the bandages wrapped around his face, and inspected him with a serious, but comical look on her face. "Well this is strange." She said, as she poked his head. The kid quickly pushed her hand away.

"What do you mean?" Fay asked, nervousness in her voice.

"Usually, when you find potential Guardians, you usually find number 13, and then work your way up to number 1."

"Wait." The kid said, getting their attention. "What do you mean 'potential Guardians?'"

The girl giggled. "You silly, you were selected by the Guardians for potential apprenticeship and then eventual full fledged Guardianship."

"You mean, I'll go around and kill rouge gods to make sure balance is kept?" He asked.

"Yep, that's the gist of it." Monome said. "By the way, I didn't catch your name."

The boy looked down. "I can't remember anything about myself."

"Not even your name?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Okay, now that's just freaky." Monome said.

Fay spoke up. "Can you finish what you started saying before he interrupted you?"

"Oh yeah! This guy is your apprentice." She said pointing at her.

Fay's head jerked back in surprise. "You mean he's the next number 1?"

Monome nodded her head, looking very happy.

"Floating girls, Mysterious people in weird clothes, brain hurting red doors. Oh yeah... I have GOT to be in a story made by a couple of weirdos." The boy deadpanned, suddenly he was glomped by the girl.

"Don't get depressed." Monome said. "We'll get along juuust fine." She smiled.

For some reason, a shiver went up the boy's spine.

---end chapter---

Dreadman75: Aaaaaannnnnndd CUT! That's a wrap people, I want all of you to pack up this crap and get the props ready for chapter 2. We're going to hit this thing like a line drive and (hopefully) wrap up the prologue before March is done with.

… -silence-

Snipa: -sweat drop- WELL! What the hell are you all waiting for, MOVE IT!!

-employees scatter hoping to still have a job at the end of the day-

Dreadman75: So hard to find good help these days, eh Snipa?

Snipa: true... too true. Oh, and one last thing.

Snipa and Dreadman75: We'd like to thank our Beta, KokiriLink, for looking over this for us.

Snipa: He did an excellent job for us.

Dreadman75: That he did. That he did... Speaking of which, do you hear insane laughing?

Snipa: -Snipa's eyes widened- No... I refuse to acknowledge that ominous sound of dark, insane laughing. I refuse to acknowledge that ominous sound of dark, insane laughing. KikiriLink! STFU, I'm trying to ignore your maniacal laughter!

KokiriLink: Oops, sorry!

All three at the same time: Please review and tell us how we did.