Copyright (I am only putting this up once, but it holds for the entire story!): With the exception of featured OCs, the characters and settings within this story are owned by Square Enix, Buena Vista, and Tetsuya Nomura. This is a non-profit fanfiction made for entertainment and creativity purposes

"Auditus..."

"Destati..."

"Destati!"

"Tendi la mano! E'giunta l'ora!" His eyes opened, a youth stood within darkness unable to see anything around him. But he thought that he had heard the voice of someone call out to him.

"Do you hear the words of my voice?" The youth heard the voice call out from nothingness, "Do you take measure with the thoughts of your mind?"

"I am the Potter." The voice stated to the listening youth, "You are an existence that should not be yet is."

"This is the doing of the Sanctuary..." The Potter explained as the youth stood with no measure of where he was or what he was, "Your birth by sleep was not the intention of the sanctuary and yet it is so."

"Because I have made it so." The Potter stated as the youth continued to stare into the endless darkness, "I have brought you forth from nothingness for a purpose, my child."

"Two guardian keys of two thrones are now absent and darkness threatens to invade the wavering light of the sky." The Potter warned as the youth's eyes darted left and right, but still he saw nothing, "Therefore, I have created you from the light of the Sanctuary to give you being and shape to strengthen the light for the darker times to come."

"But you are still incomplete." The Potter said to the standing youth, "You hear yet you do not feel, you comprehend but you do not see, you stand yet you do not breath. I shall afflict upon you the curse of life therefore so that you might be complete."

"Feel the coldness of nothingness." At the Potter's command, the youth's eyes widened as a painful sensation fell upon his body. He could feel the air of this realm collapse upon him as needles and he stiffened as he wrapped his arms around his body.

"Smell and inhale to taste and consume the breath of life." A powerful pain gripped the boy's chest as he fell to his knees and placed a hand upon his beating chest. He heard and felt something within, the beating of a red organ that pumped blood through his veins as he grit his teeth in pain. Against his will, his chest expanded out as lungs within them took in the air of life and exhaled to expel the nothingness that was there before.

"Open your eyes! Open your soul! Become consumed by the fear that lies within it." Blinding silver light encompassed the boy that burned into his eyes. He tightly closed them out of fear and instinct even as tears squeezed out of his closed lids.

Then they opened.

His vision was blurred, but he could see. He saw the glass upon which he stood, a glass that reflected his kneeling form. Cold from the air and having no garment to protect from it, his heart pumping uncomfortably fast as looked down at his own reflection and saw his silver eyes look back at him. His face bore the expression of curiosity and fear, his skin was dark while his slim yet athletic build left the naked muscles of his body defined within his reflection.

"You are cold my child...Do you see your being?" The Potter asked as the youth stood up in fearful awareness that he could not see who was speaking, "Do you see the emptiness from which you were drawn? The pillar upon which you stand?"

"This pillar is your heart." The Potter said as the youth looked upon the edged of the platform and saw a ring of stained glass begin to form, "Though whole and filled with the light of the sanctuary, it is and shall be empty until your thoughts become your actions...Then shall those actions become habits...Then shall your habits become your character and then shall your character become your fate, unknown."

"Now speak! Speak your name unto the void from which you came!" Pain gripped the youth's throat and strangled his breath. It was as though something was being forcibly inserted into his mouth and all he could do was gag as he attempted to reestablish his breathing.

"Ter..." A sound came from his mouth as he began to breath more easily. He now realized that his mouth could form sounds on it's own like the voice that spoke to him. So he stood upon the station and spoke for the first time in his life,"Te...T...To...Tob...Tobi...Tob...Tobi...Tobia...To...bi...as...Tobias...Tobias!"

At this Light sprang from the stained glass as half of the platform was encompassed and formed the image that was similar to his own reflection.

The reflection of his being.

"Very well, Tobias." The Potter replied in a gentler voice. Tobias exhaled and wanted to speak further, but felt weariness consume him and prompt him to lie down upon the platform, "Rest now...your awakening is complete. No longer shall you sleep in the void of nothingness. You shall awaken into the light of the scattered yet connected sky of light. Remember my words and fill up the emptiness of your heart through the bonds that you forge."

"But remember..." The Potter warned as Tobias closed his eyes and knew no more of this place of awakening, "The closer to light one comes, the greater the shadow shall grow..."

Thrones of the Four Pillars: Garden's Descent

Author's Notes:

I'm just going to say now that time between updates will be long purposefully because this story will contain spoilers for my ongoing story, Thrones of the Four Pillars.

Furthermore, if the OC seems like a Gary Stu (which I'll be careful about) this is intentional for both the story's conclusion and his character growth.

The featured OC is Tobias/Thaeon during the one-year time period between the end of Birth by Sleep and when Kairi came to the islands.

So with that out of the way...if you are not a fan of tragic yet bittersweet endings, now is the time to leave and I won't be offended.

Okay, so who's left?