Disclaimer: ok... sure i'll dis-claim this work's primary character's besides the few originals I made, mainly the main character and a handful of dieties and filler characters, settings, and capacities as not my own. If they WERE my own.. i'd of had a few changes.. mainly how some characters seem to think the ability to throw armor piercing roses and fight while wearing formal wear is a good thing.

Author's notes: This particular piece of fanfiction will eventually become a sailormoon self-insertion.. kinda sorta. I mean the character based off of me goes through some pretty interesting changes before he ever gets to a sailor moon timeline. The first few chapters are mostly back story, coming of age kind of stuff.. cept without the coming of age.. The prologue itself is a creation of mine that I use as a 'jump point' for a lot of different stories. The whole.. ANYTHING could happen afterwords feel. This story, however, is the core of what would happen and as such is as close to the 'cannon' as you'll get from one of my stories..not that the anime's and other fictional places represented will be of the cannon variety, but this STORY is the cannon for my other stories.. if that makes sense. Everything else is basically an alternate what if. That being said, let me know what you think.

Prologue: Legendary Cavern of Eternal Night.

He awoke with his customary grogginess and lumbered his way to a sitting position. It was the same deal every morning since he'd arrived in this living nightmare of twisting shadows and dark dry corridors. The place would have actually been better served had there been dripping limestone and phosphorescent lichen. Sadly anything that was alive here had died long ago. The only light source he had in these abyssal desert tunnels was a small flashlight that for some reason continued to work despite the sheer amount of time he must have been using it.

He'd restrained himself on more than one occasion from opening the bottom to see just what brand was in it. He had this insistent itch in the back of his mind that if he did, he would soon find himself without the aforementioned always working flashlight.

His only other personal affects were his backpack, a few badly torn and stained artices of clothing, and a depressingly small leather bag that had water in it. It ran out early every day, since it was barely a quart in volume. Like the light, however, it also had an ever renewing source. How it refilled itself at certain times in the day he didn't know. It produced the bare minimum to keep him alive and moving though.

Food, as his stomache would attest, was something a bit more scarce. He felt like he had not eaten in forever. He had a small amount of food in his backpack when he went out that day on his hike so long ago. Unfortunately he'd eaten it all a while back. With no sun or moon to judge the passage of time he couldn't be sure just how long ago. His stomache figured it to be a week or two at least. In truth it was getting more and more difficult just waking up. He barely had the energy to keep moving, but he knew that if he didn't, he would certainly die in this forsaken darkness, like others before him. He didn't know why, but he felt certain other people had come this way, long ago.

"Well, man. I guess it's time to make the doughnuts.." he muttered into the ever encroaching darkness. Lifting his flashlight and using it's dim spear of hope as his guidon he soldiered onward as he had done many times before, both in this cavernous hell and outside in the real world. The scant few years in the army had been the only reason he'd survived this long he thought for the million and fifteenth time while stagger stepping down the porous rocky trail.

From time to time on his never ending trek, he'd come across different rock formations and trail patterns, but this was one of the more common ones. He'd probably walked down it a thousand times and not even realized it in his situation.

After he'd walked for what felt like hours, and probably was, he staggered to a halt. The path had given out abruptly and lead down into a yawning chasm. "Not again dammit'!" He cried out into the uncaring darkness. He'd run into dead ends like this on far too many occasions.

With a weary sigh he began to turn around and trudge back the entire way he'd just come, for there were no turn-offs or forks on this particular path when something caught his eye. His flashlight had glinted it's unending beam across something metalic and surprisingly enough, shiny.

He walked to the edge of the cavern wall, precariously close to the edge of the chasm and got a better look at the first new discovery he'd made in a long time. It had the appearance of a handle, but made out of some kind of metal that hadn't corroded, or even gotten dusty with the passage of time.

Like the flashlight and water bag then, it was timeless and eternally performing its purpose. In a flash of insight his starved and addled mind suddenly got the image of a secret door opening somewhere, possibly leading out or at least to a place with some more light.

Without a moment's hesitation or forethought he gripped the handle and pulled with all the strength his thoroughly exhausted frame could muster and the lever did come forward and down. When the path fell open beneath him he of course, did a similar thing.

When he awoke this time, he was nearly ready to keel over and die. He'd injured his leg when he'd fallen, and now it was in no condition to be walked upon very far. Cringing with every little twitch and motion he inspected the damage as best he could and shook his head. "Well, at least it's a closed break.. if it's broken."

After his injury assessments where completed, he took a moment to survery his new surroundings from his seated position and imediately recognized the most prominent features. Namely, the building in front of him, up a somewhat steep path, and the softly glowing radiance emerging from it's doorway.

He nodded at the structure and began trying to use the nearby wall to lever himself to his feet. It was a slow agonizing process, but at last he did manage to get there. Glancing down where he was formerly seated revealed the same metallic rod from above, glinting against the glow of his flashlight. "Heh, life g-gives ya a lem lemon.."

The young soldier crutch stepped his way up the path as best he could, wincing all the way. It took him what felt like an hour, but at last he was at the doorway. He hobbled forward and took a look.

Inside the building the source of the illumination was revealed to be several softly glowing pools of water. Each one had a different hue and overall feel to them. He was stunned for a moment at the sight of so much water, but even more by the sudden warmth flowing against his face. It was wind! There was a current of air flowing through here somewhere. His near orgasmic joy at that prospect kept him from hearing the other startling development. Slowly, however, he did hear.

"Knight of the era, come forth.." came a soft near whisper from within the structure. Startled back to his new reality, the young man nearly fell over trying to register the idea of someone talking down here. Then he reasoned aloud, "Must be a trick of the wind.."

Louder this time and with more vigor came the voice, "Knight of the era, come forth."

"That was no trick of the wind! Who are you..? I've been wandering down here forever! Can you help me get out of here?!" exclaimed the young man loudly.

"No knight, i've been here forever, you have been here but a scant time at best... still you are worthy. Come forth.. should you desire to leave the cavern of eternal night." replied the voice. It's vigor a soft warm baritone. No hint of threat, malice, or deceit layered within it's words. In fact despite it's warmth it almost seemed entirely unconcerned, dispassionate would be the word.

The young man growled, but stepped forward. If this guy was yankin' his chain. Well to be honest there wasn't much he could do about it in his condition, but he'd try!

No sooner did he step within the structure than the door behind him disappear. Where once there was door, there now was smooth wall with a shimmering crystalline appearance. "Heh, no going back now, huh? Not that i'd wanted too.."

In the faint light he saw a wispy human seeming form begin to appear coalescing into something reminiscent of hollywood's best transparent ghost imagery. The spectre took on a wisened appearance with a long flowing beard, and skull cap. His white robes completed the ensemble giving off the stereotypical ,Wise old fart in a cave, vibe.

"Yeah... anyway. Er.. you uh said something about getting out of here?" the young man asked in a rush. He was more than a little freaked out by this, but considering how little he could do about it he just had to deal. Military life had drilled the concept of making do with what you had to work with into him, even if he'd only been in the service two years.

The wise old fart nodded at him slowly and said, "Indeed I did young knight. You have been granted a singular oppertunity. You passed the cavern trial and have only the ordeal of the pools left, before you can enter into your new place in life."

"Enter ny new.. What ever old guy, I just want out.." muttered the man, not certain what else to say. This old sage lookin guy in the bathrobes was really unnerving him. The floating in the air, tranparent thing was bad enough, but he kept talking like his problems had only begun.

The old figure nodded again and said, "Then let us begin. Drink from the pool directly before me."

The young soldier blanched at that and shook his head. "No way.. that thing's bound to have some kind of noxious chemicals in it to be glowing like that! Besides.. the water can't be good after all the time it must have been here."

The wisp nodded. "You would drink from a spring of ... good ..then?"

The man tugged on his empty waterskin and licked his lips. It'd be a long while before it refilled and he was damned thirsty. Still, could he trust the wrinkled fart? Not seeing much choice he nodded. "Yeah.. if the water's good I could drink a little I guess..."

The old man raised his hand and then gestured towards the pool immediately to his right, it's soft glowing radiance was of a golden hue. "Then drink of these waters knight."

The man nodded and walked calmly over to the pool squatting down to place one hand in the pool, his eyes never leaving the old floating guy's position. Slowly he brought it back up and tasted it. No tell tale tang of poison and no creeping numbness in his tongue. Hoping these were good signs, he drank the handful of water noticing immediately that a warm tingle radiated down his body. A scent of lilacs and lavendar floated softly around him and his injured leg no longer hurt.

He blinked and checked his wound finding no sign of the damage he'd taken earlier. "Wha...?"

The old man nodded again and softly said. "He drinks of the waters of life, of the good." The building resounded with a loud cry, as though a thousand hearty voices where clamoring to be heard. All said, congratulatory greetings such as "Hail brother!" and "Glory to the most high, be welcome." He was certain he had picked out a "Groovy cat's always welcome round heyar'" as well.

"Next answer me three questions knight.." stated the elder.

The soldier grunted to himself and nodded, "Fine.. I don't know why but i'll play along." He was trying his best not to run screaming into the night. Not that he'd get far with no doors in this building.

"Question the first.. hast thou ever stolen from another?"

The man sighed and thought. "I've done such, I mean if taking loose change off the street or someone's last cookie and stuff counts. IF you just meant bigger stuff like blatantly rob people, or running off with their tv's and such then, no. You didn't specify so I kind of had to. I generally don't, since i'd hate to be stolen from. Do unto others and all that kinda stuff."

The old man tilted his head to the side as though listening and then stared hard at the young soldier. The man in question had the feeling that the very core of his soul was being scoured to verify his answer. A moment passed and then the old man nodded. "He speaks the truth, and his thievery if you could call it such is inconsequential. Most children do more than that on a daily basis.

A mumur of a thousand voices agreeing with this statement could be heard, before the old man raised his hand. "Enough.. question the second. Knight.. which is the most powerful force in existence, nature, love, greed,violence, hate, or fear."

The 'knight' shook his head and mumbled. "Eesh.. what a question." He rambled around inside himself for a minute because he'd often asked himself a question similar to this. In all honesty all he'd ever come up with is a compromise situation and he decided to try and use that now.

"Neither. Each of those forces is but a part of the whole. Each in its own right a vital component to a full and treasured life. Some might dispute violence, hate and greed, fear as well. I never did. These are symptoms of imbalance and such. Each a thing twisting love and nature. Greed is to love something to the extent that you cannot allow another to possess it. Hate is to love something so dearl y that you have to expres the raw anger at that which would cause issues to occur with it. Violence is the natural outcome of people not communicating honestly, and fear is the darkness within all souls necessary to truly shine with that inner light of hope... Without the darker more destructive forces we could not appreciative the creative lighter ones.

However, despite their necessity, i'd think one shouldn't focus too heavily on them or risk being lost to their own internal hell."

The old man gazed solemnly at the young man and nodded. "You chose neither as the most potent, to not choose.. is still a choice made. A well thought and reasoned one i'd believe."

The clamour of voices agreed and the young soldier could feel the weight of a sea filled with staring eyes all on him.

"Question.. the third. Can there be such a thing as fighting for peace?"

"Absolutely."

"You choose not to even think it over? You simply blurt out the first thing to come to your mind..knight?" asked the old man, an arched eyebrow leering down at him.

The young soldier shrugged. "I don't need to. I've asked myself that question a lot in my life. I had my answer long ago, and felt no need to pretend otherwise."

The old man grew solemn again and nodded. "So you did."

"He has answered the questions! Let the quality of his spirit be known!" exclaimed the wisened elder, a sudden wind firling his robes about, and whipping through his hair and beard.

"Here, Here!" came the cry from that sea of invisible voices.

The young man covered his ears to try and protect his hearing from the sudden onslaught. Just as suddenly as it began the onslaught ended.

"Young knight, the end of your ordeal grows closer. You have been weighed, you have been measured, and now you will be judged. To leave this cavern you must choose your next moves carefully. You may drink from the springs three times more, and prepare yourself in the room beyond, for soon you must show your mettle in the final trial.

With that the old man faded away, before he could be questioned. His voice did return once briefly to say "Be quick knight.. your trial will begin whether you are ready or not."

The young man looked around at the suddenly empty room and realized that there was indeed a room behind where the old man stood. He could have sworn it wasn't there earlier, but he gave up caring.

"Drink from three pools.. sheesh, what's with this crazy place." grumbled the man. He wasn't even sure where to begin when a thought crossed his mind. The pool he'd already drank from seemed harmless, and the old fart said he could drink from up to three pools. Maybe, if he started with that one again he could figure out what to do.

He reached down and scooped up a double handful of water and guldped it down. This time the warmth flowing through his body invigorated him beyond any capacity he'd known before. He could feel raw strength surging through him, as though the sheer vitality of life itself flowed through him.

The old man's words wandered through his mind again and he realized why drinking from the springs would be so important. Still, none of the other springs looked too promising. In fact his skin crawled whenever he even thought of going near one of the others, especially the rainbow hued one in the back.

He scooped up a second handful of water, drinking again from the same spring. This time he could feel his senses heighten to levels he'd nver before experienced. His vision sharpened, his hearing become most acute. Within his mind's eye images became sharper and more detailed, giving him the thought that it wasn't only his physical senses that were sharpening.

He reached out with these new senses letting them pour over each pool in turn and winced visibly. Each and every pool he came across had some horrible side effect. All save the one he'd been drinking from. True some of the side effects looked interesting.
One seemed to turn you into a lycanthrope, immortal to anything except silver and holy magics. Another made you undead, still another simply poisoned you. The rainbow pool eluded him though. He still felt an incredible wrongness about it, even more than earlier but he could not discern it's nature.

He drank for the third and final time from the holy spring, for he knew that to be this spring's nature. This time a warm resonating wave of force rolled outward from the core of his being. He felt truly awake for the first time in his life and could feel a connection to life and it's creator as never before. In fact he felt certain that a measure of that very force would be his to shape and mold as he saw fit.

He glanced over at the rainbow pool and shuddered. The brightest of the pools by far, it had been a trap for the unwary. He knew it for what it was now. This was the pool of the damned, any who drank from it were forever denied the light of love and hope, these forces snuffed from their existence entirely. In exchange it gave you the power to command the damned souls and dark things, in short.. it made you king nothing.

He had a sudden urge to drink from the holy pool once more, for he knew now that one more drink would elevate him beyond the mortal pale entirely and make him into a god. Already his very being was nearly overflowing with the power coursing through him. His hand reached down, almost automatically to drink again, but the old man's admonishment cut through him like a knife. Drink from the springs three times...

His hand hovered over the edge of the pool, he struggled internally trying to rationalize another drink, but slowly his nature won over and he pulled back. "All I want to do is get out of here. Let's see what's in the room."

He walked into the antechamber and saw a vast array of rusted medieval weaponry, a few dusty tomes, a forge with no fire in the back, and a set of white robes and boots lying on a small table near a normal seeming non-glowing pool of water, and a gigantic table filled with food of every sort imaginable.

He stripped down quickly and wandered over to test the pool, making certain it was clear for use. He couldn't detect anything wrong with it, and slipped in cleaning all the dust and grime from his weary travels. The food called to him strongly, but he would not eat until he cleansed himself. It seemed important for some reason.

After cleaning up, he got dressed in the clothes laid out, finding that they fit perfectly, and settled into the feast. He said a short prayer and then dug in, gorging himself as much as he could stopping short of vomiting it all back up.

When he'd finished dining, the table cleared itself and the pool disappeared. "Heh.. self cleaning kitchen or something.."

He started perusing the weapons and books. All the tomes where in some language he couldn't decipher, but he kept out two that seemed promising for some reason he couldn't quite place yet.

The weapons were all crap. Rusted through and useless, the best he could hope for would be to melt them down for scrap. Heck if it came down to it the metal rod he'd been lugging around would probably be a far more efficient weapon than any of those.

He approached the forge at the back more curious than anything else, and it sprang to life fires raging and the sound of a hammer ringing on anvil filling the air. A soft voice whispered, "Hae ye a project master?"

The man looked around for a ghostly blacksmith, but seeing no one shrugged and said sure.. I guess I need equipment or a weapon or something. i'm not sure what.

"Hae ye metal to work?"

The young soldier looked around and shrugged, "I could probably use all this rusted stuff.. and there's this rod here I guess..?"

"Give us the metal.. the rod and three good pieces. Rust matters not, the metal remembers.. and the hammer reminds it anyway,," came the ghostly reply.

The man nodded and wandered back over to the array of rusted crap, and dagged out odd bits and pieces of this and that. He eventually found a few pieces that seemed reletively rust free, one almost seemed to have an infinitesimal glow to it as well. It was an old pendant, of some metal he couldn't identify. IT probably was some kind of iron alloy he reasoned, since it had some rust, if not much.

"Here.. an old necklace, this half-plate, and this bracer." said the soldier to the forge.

The ghostly voice responded, "Well chosen master.. useful these will be indeed when combined with the rod."

The items in question were placed on the anvil and moments later a furious ringing could be heard from their location. An obscuring mist began to form around them and soon nothing could be seen save the occasional hammer spark.

For what seemed like hours the steady cacauphony of steel on steel, or whatever the stuff was made of could be heard. The soldier spent his time after the few beginning moments attempting to make heads or tales of the strange tomes he had decided to keep.

Needless to say he wasn't making much progress when the final hammer stroke fell and the ghostly voice called out to him. The masterpiece was done.

Our young protagonist was rather shocked to see nothing more than a simple metal sphere resting atop the table. It seemed primarily made of the rod metal, but had whirling pictoglyphic designs and runic symbols. After a moment's inspection he realized several of the symbols corresponded with a few he'd seen in the books.

"Master, long it has been since i've had such materials to work with. This I think is my greatst work in over eighteen thousand years. Take it and be strong, for the forces within will fight you at first, but master them and no evil shall stand before your might!"

The soldier reached down and calmly grasped the tennis ball sized orb and stared at it for a moment. When nothing happened, he shook it a little, but still nothing. "Heh.. mighty indeed.. aw well thanks anyway, uh.. smithy?"

"Welcome thou art, master.. now beware for dire threat draws near, beyond the obsidian arch!"

The young man sighed. This was getting rediculous. What next, would he have to go fight a dragon and rescue some blonde haired ,blue eyed, heaving-boosomed, princess type..? Well, now that he thought about it, this didn't seem so bad.. it beat walking in the tunnels at least.

So he grabbed his almighty.. metal ball... and wandered off in the direction of the aforementioned dire threat.

Within the darkest reaches of the room beyond shadows moved to a hellish wind felt only by their owner. Baleful eyes stared out of this living darkness and gazed warily at this upstart knight. Human fodder, it thought. These fools rarely get this far, and so long as he was master, none would get further.

No one had passed by him, ever. Before he took on his duties a few would slip past prior guardians, but the dark-hellfire elemental known as Shirogna would not be bested by a mere human. It had slain all the hapless ones that had come before, all eight that had passed the previous trials. The only eight out of thousands that had attempted the ordeal in its tenure as guardian.

Casually it's next meal wandered into its realm, all but blind to what nightmares awaited it. When the human fool was close enough Shirogna fluidly enveloped him in it's shadowed form, amidst its terrified screams, the elemental laughed silently to itself. This one would surely be the easiest of all!

The soldier screamed into the enveloping darkness, as its cloying miasma began eating away at him like a noxious acid. Sulphuric fumes began to assault his nostrils and within moments he would be dying. He knew this with every fiber of his being. He struggled mightily against th encroaching night fiend, but his attacks all passed harmlessly through its shroud.

Nothing could harm it physically! The horrible thought raced through his mind. The acidic area was already causing his skin to peel back, and he was forced to roll around on the ground screaming in agony.

The thought constantly assailed him. He should give up, and let the beast have him. The pain was too much, there was nothing he had that could even fight this darknss.

That's when something besides his own screams got his attention. All this rolling around had dislodged his flashligh from it's place on his robe. He'd clipped it there so he wouldn't lose it.

In his desperation an insane idea counteracted the mental assault and with supreme effort he reached out, and flipped on the switch. The standard dim swath of light shot out, but something else altogether different occured this time. The light was ccompanied by a scream that he didn't emit. The beast was in immense pain of its own!

Quickly grasping the situation our heroic knight..heh, began waving the light around like it was the only thing between him and certain death. It was actually. The screams continued for several moments as various bit and pieces of Shirogna were seared by the light, but slowly the screaming stopped.

"FOoLisH! YoUr PiTiFuL IigHt cAn nOt dEsTrOy mY BeAuTiFuL DaRkNeSss... "

Our badly singed hero waved his flash light around like a mad man, but to his growing fear realized that a wall of pure darkness was slowly flowing towards him absorbing all the weak light. The little light that had banished darkness for him for weeks, was no longer strong enough to aid him.

He pressed down as hard as he could on the power switch, hoping, praying for more light, for ANY light. Precious seconds passed and if anything the light seemed dimmer, and began to flicker. Whatever power was animating the flashlight seemed to be finally running out, just when he needed it the most!

"Please.. don't do this to me..Please, we've gone through so much together in the last few weeks little light.. you're my only hope!" Cried the obviously insane man. The situation was finally getting to him.

The light continued to grow dimmer and the darkness rushed in swifter now, covering three times as much distance as before. It would be mere seconds before it consumed him. Looking around only revealed that the darkness had him surrounded on all sides.

He gripped his little metal sphere and pulled it out of his robe pocket. "Fat lot of good you do me! All I need is a little light! Can't you even help me do that?!" He railed at the unresponsive little ball.

With utter despair he realized the wall was only feet away from him now. "Light.. no I need a freaking light SABER..a..!"

"Sabera!" resonated a deep baritone voice from the metal sphere and from within it's core immediately resonated a vibrant white hot light that erupted outward with all the force of a tsunami. The soldier was flash-blinded for several minutes, but when his vision began to return what he saw before him was a welcome if shocking image.

The sphere was floating in mid air inside of a pillar of white-hot light. In the far flung corner of the room was huddled a little tiny batlke creature whimpering pitifully to itself about the horrible, horrible light.

The whimpers slowly subsided and then fell silent all together. The little bat thing began to evaporate its body rapidly disintegrating into a black sandy substance and blowing away upon some unseen wind.

"Wow.. I beat it?" said the man in shock. He glanced over at the sphere and wondered how he'd get the thing to turn off so he could get going.

He walked around the pillar of unrelenting force several times, not once seeing anyway of approaching the thing, but to his further annoyance he did see that it was beginning to melt. Soon his gift would be a slag heap, and who knew what would happen to him then?

Several minutes passed and more and more of the metal fell away sloughing off like some kind of dead liquid metal skin. When the last of it had dissolved away what greeted the man was a brilliantly shiny radiance still spherical in shape but not restrained by a metal shell.

Unbidden his hand raised up and all of the light radiating outward flowed into a single point at its epicenter. With a golf ball sized sphere that seemed to radiate from a single flaming symbol. Within his mind echoed the word Sabera, and its translation. "Wrath of heaven."

This sphere was an incarnate form of the anger all good creatures instinctively felt towards those that persued evil ends. The ultimate and final solution to any situation, unreleting divine violence. Yet somehow he felt it was only half the equasion. The burning symbol seemed incomplete.

He didn't fully understand why but he felt an undeniable urge, one that he followed. He stepped forward and placed his palm beneath the sphere and said, "Let us join together for we are one."

The sphere resonated a wild rainbow of hues almost as though considering the situation and then floated softly down to land on his palm. Then sank within it. The radiant white light flared outward from him for a brief moment and then, the confrontation was over.

He blinked after his bearings returned to him and turned around to see the wisened old man from before. "Well done young knight, or should I say paladin."

"Paladin.. wha?"

"You will understand in time.. but for now your final task awaits you..."

The man blinked and then stared at the wisened old fart. "There's MORE?! When do I get out of here?"

"Patience paladin, for that is the last task of all, look behind you."

The man turned and was rewarded with the sight of dozens of doorways all radiating a different color and hue.

"All doors lead out young one. Only one leads back to the home you knew. The others... well they lead elsewhere. This trial is simple. All you have to do is walk through a door and you're finished here. These doors all lead somewhere dear to your heart in one way or another, and be not afraid, no matter which you take all places need a true paladin." said the old sage before gifting the young protagonist with a fleeting smile. "Journey well, and be at peace.

With a silent heart the man gazed at the doors, and took a step, then another soon he was indeed walking through the door...

Well, that's it for the prologue folks. Nothing anyone would recognize from anime and the like yet, but it's the beginning. The next chapter or two only have some minor refferences to such, but it does enter into a place wherein the people had a 'dawn' most interesting.