Alright everyone, this is the first chapter of my first story so please don't flame me too much. The first chapter may be short, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. The viewpoint is third person subjective...I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Story-Wide Disclaimer: Alright, here we go. I don't own Naruto, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Hunger Games, The Legend of Zelda, and everything else that isn't original. Got it? You better have! I'm not making any money, so LAY OFF!
This story was inspired by Stephan King's Dark Tower series and by the 1990's TV show Sliders.
For the sake of the story, all the characters look like real-life people and not animated characters.
Update:10/03/10: I've changed the first chapter a whole ton, so even if you've already read it you should go and read it again. Most of it should be completly new so don't worry too much about getting bored.
Arc One: Chikyuu
The Master of Shadows was not happy.
But of course, who would be happy after being sealed away for a little over seven hundred years right after escaping another seal that lasted for one thousand years. Luckily though, the seal used on him was the Unwound Clock Seal, which trapped him between the folds of time, resulting in his body not aging a minute. In fact, from his point of view, he had just been sealed away about an hour ago. It wasn't until he had met up with Captain Sickle, the commander of Taskforce Omega, that he had learned that he had been sealed for seven hundred years.
Now the Master of Shadows was walking towards the heart of the Temple of Shadows, his base of operations and the only surviving relic of his ancient village, called the Village Hidden in the Shadows. Interestingly enough, the military base had once been a church for his people's now extinct religion, called Christianity. According to the Gregorian Calendar, it was now the year 2758 AD. Of course, only the Master of Shadows used that dating system anymore, even though he had long since revoked his membership with the Christian Church, the only group to use this dating system, to join the other two Masters on their search for the sacred Artifacts.
When he arrived at the temple's center, he stood in a vast, ornate chamber with a very high ceiling. In the center of the chamber, there were six pillars exactly 1 yard high and 1 foot in width. The array of pillars was called the Alter. On four of the pillars lay four of the previously mentioned Artifacts. A harp, called the Artifact of Time, a rod, called the Artifact of Seasons, a heart shaped mask with multiple spikes on it, called the Artifact of Power, and a wand made of elder wood, called the Artifact of Magic. Beyond the pillars there was a rectangular pool of water about twenty feet in length.
As he approached the pool of water, he made a few hand signs and stated "Shadow Style: Dark Water Mirror Jutsu". Almost immediately after he was finished, some of the water turned jet-black and rose out of the pool, forming a flat surface.
'One Dark Mirror! What the hell!' he thought, extremely surprised as the mirror finished forming. There should have been two mirrors, one for the Master of Souls and the other for the Master of Time and Space. Suddenly, the face of a middle-aged man was staring down at him through the single mirror.
"State your name and your assigned phrase!" they both bellowed at the same time.
"Master of Shadows. There's no time like the present."
"Master of Souls. I don't have dreams. How can I say it? I myself am a dream."
"Modest much?" The Shadow Master spoke with probably the largest hint of humor that had ever echoed in the walls of the temple. Almost nonexistent.
The Soul Master shook his head and began to wonder why he chose the Shadow Master as a partner. He was going to say something cruel back, but eventually settled for the probably the nicest thing he had ever said. "I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up soon." he stated, emotionless.
"Where's our friend the Happy Mask Salesman?" he said, ignoring his partner's statement.
"Dead. Killed by the Guardian of his designated universe."
"Any sign of hostile action directed towards us?" the Shadow Master said in a neutral voice that his wide-eyed facial expression would have betrayed if he had not been wearing his army's standard issue porcelain white masks. They were made so that if you pulled the hood of the standard uniform, a midnight black robe, up it would clip onto the hood; leaving a soldier's entire face concealed. As for the thing about designated universes, each of the Three Masters had been assigned a universe containing one of the six Artifacts. And, finally, Guardians were a species of Angelics, the third most powerful level a living being could exist as. However, while they were very powerful and had no set life span, they could still be killed. But they were not what had the Master of Shadows worried. No, what frightened him was that if the Guardians had taken action, it was only a matter of time before God could take action without breaking the Original Law and interfere in the lesser realities.
"None yet," the Master of Souls answered. "but we should make our actions in universes other than the ones we were born in limited. Luckily for you, your designated universe is also your home universe, making your movements a whole lot easier to make than mine. Also, is it me, or did your voice change."
"My body and my shadow were merged together by the blond bastard about a week prior to the usage of the Unwound Clock Seal. In order to gain return to full power back , I had to perform an Ultimate Shadow Possession on a human. I also chose one of the blond bastard's friends as my host to terrorize him. Come to think of it, I never did show that dumb blond which of his friends I took as my host." the Shadow Master replied.
"Ah. When will you begin your search for your artifact again?" the Soul Master said, already losing interest in the previous topic.
"Immediately"
"Which of your soldiers will you be using this time?" the Soul Master spoke while smiling an insanely inhuman smile.
"The one I sent to the Happy Mask Salesman's designated universe to aid Vaati."
"Ah, Dark Link. Good choice." the Soul Master spoke happily as he watched the shadowy tunic-clad boy walk into view.
