Silver Dusk

By Faded-Song

Disclaimer: Skies of Arcadia and Skies of Arcadia: Legends belongs to Overworks and SEGA. I hold nothing of the game series whatsoever.

Please don't try to steal this story. You may think it's fine, but I assure you that it isn't.

Chapter 1: Silver in Soltis

A child no older than 16 looked out the window of his room in Soltis. The clouds over the city had seemed… darker for some reason unknown to the boy. As if something bad was going to happen. 'I thought thunderstorms only happened in the far north?' he thought to himself as he heard the door open automatically. A woman in her thirties with long blonde hair dressed in flowing white robes had stormed into the room.

"Zelos! Run! You… you must quickly leave before your father gets here!" she shouted uncontrollably as tears rolled down her face.

The child turned a strange look on his face. He had waist length platinum blonde hair almost silver and even paler skin, a traditional look for a majority of silvites. Apparently, the gene pool for them was quite weak. His eyes were a sharp laced green that could pierce even air with a single glance. Dressed in the simple white clothing of a Silvite Mage, Zelos was puzzled. "Mother, I…I don't understand?" he asked as gazed once more. Out of habit, his left hand fell towards the silver moonstone that hung around his neck.

The door burst open once more revealing two Silvite Swordsman with their faces hidden behind white masks. Following them was another man, although this one was dressed in a dark gray robe with a red scarf around his neck. Zelos knew immediately who it was. He was one of the silvite elders and a powerful magus as well.

Although Zelos referred to him as nothing more than father.

"Can…someone explain to me what's going on?" Zelos asked. His mother was crying on the floor and his father had guards with him in his own home! Utterly confusing the boy thought. "Are we not more civilized then this?" he asked to no on in particular.

Zelos' father turned to face him, "Zelos, you are coming with me. I will inform you along the way to the inner sanctum." He said quietly holding his hand out.

Still bewildered, Zelos nodded and followed his father out of the room. "Please take Nafai to her rooms and give her something to drink." The silvite elder said to one of the maidens who had come up hearing the ruckus.

"NO! I-I WON'T!!! How can you do this?!? He's your son! Your own flesh and blood! Please…Yules, please!" Nafai shouted as the maiden took her back to her room, albeit with tears.

Zelos said nothing though internally he worried about his mother. She was usually so calm and receptive….but to see her this angry? What had his father done? And he still wanted to know why there were two guards with him. Surely they didn't think that Zelos was a criminal?

The boy inwardly snorted. A Criminal, ha. He was Soltis' most prized mage among the younger generation. He doubted any other 16 year old could conjure up an Eternum spell.

"Son, you know of the Gigas that rampage the world?" his father asked.

Zelos nodded. "Yes…Recumen and Grendel are an example. Huge warring beasts correct? Controlled by a Moon Crystal." It was common knowledge after all to anyone in the world. Although the governing bodies used them daily, the people of the countries were sickened with war and just wanted to get back to the days of trading.

"We have found a way to stop the warring nations." Yules said outright.

Zelos' eyes widened. "Truly?" he said as the stepped deeper into Soltis.

Yules nodded. "Yes. And for that we need your help."

Raising an eyebrow, Zelos moved through the last door into the final sanctum, a room created entirely of silver moonstones. It was a marvel of silvite technologies. Zelos could feel the magic in the room. It was like a thin miasma, a poisoning silver air. There was no light except for the main circle in the middle where a group of high order mages were. Looking around Zelos found his father had joined the other elders at the top of the sanctum, his face as emotionless as ever.

"That still does not answer why you brought me here…" the boy uttered. Although he was 16 in age, Zelos was well known for his sharp tongue. He had picked quite a few fights as he studied to become a high mage.

Standing above the hall was Elder Prime, a rather robust man of elder age who could easily fight any of the younger men in swordplay or magic. The elder raised his hands and Zelos could feel something beneath him. The runes of a silver magic summoning on the floor from a time before he was born had flickered into life. It was then that Zelos realized that he wasn't being told something.

Zelos knew that his attention wasn't required for anything in the grand aspects of the court of silvites and yet he found himself standing before the entire group of elders along with a dozen high silver mages.

"Zelos…I told you that we needed your help for defeating the rest of the Gigas, correct?" Yules asked, a cold sweat running down his forehead.

The taciturn young boy nodded, "Yes, but why such the audience? And what's with these moonstones?" Zelos said beckoning towards the people in the room and the huge silver moonstones that separated the center of the room from the rest.

Yules failed to say anything. It seemed as if he was fighting an internal struggle with himself. Noticing this Elder Prime stepped forward, "Young Zelos. Please step into the middle of the 4 Moonstone pillars." He said.

If Zelos was befuddled by the request, he did not show it as he stepped inside the 4 moonstone crystals unaware of the mages that were now closing in upon the center of the room. Gazing around, he noticed that the crystal pillars were pure silver moonstones. He also saw the presence of two blackened colors stones. One was directly above him located at the top of the 4 moonstone pillars with the other right under his feet. 'Are those…black moon stones?' he asked himself. Zelos had heard of the fabled moonstones, but had never seen them up close before.

A noise could be heard as Zelos looked around and the saw the 4 pillars moving closer and starting to shine rather brightly. The mages had started their chants as a pale barrier was erected between the crystal pillars, trapping Zelos in the inside. "Hey! W…what is going on?" Zelos shouted concerned with the words of his mother ringing into his head once more.

"In order to stop the Gigas and the people that rage wars that would harm the silvites…" Elder Prime said softly, "We must construct our own Gigas, one whose power would be above that of the rest. Zelos, you have been chosen for this. You will lead the Silvites towards a new era, where man will not wage wars against others so trivially."

Then it finally hit the pale colored boy.

He was going to be sacrificed.

Zelos screamed as he ran out the moonstone pillars but was blasted back by the barrier. Pain filled his body as the shocks convulsed through his limbs as he struggled to get up again. "NO! NO!!!" Zelos shouted as he brought his hands together and shot off a powerful Crystalen spell.

Only to have it fade away seconds after conjuring it. Gazing up, Zelos saw how the black moonstones (or what he'd like to think of the black moonstones as) seemed to be glowing with a faint light. The Silvite Mages continued to concentrate their mana into the huge silver moonstone pillars which had started to glow with a light that could blind any normal person instantly. The Black moonstones seemed to be absorbing this light…

'No…' Zelos thought, 'It's warping the silver light around the contained chamber…'

True to those words, the silver lights had started spinning around Zelos' body with the magic remains being sucked directly into the black moonstone crystals which had started to give off blasts of dark purple lights. Each second that passed, the purple lights seemed to have grown bigger and more potent. Zelos feared for his life now.

"FATHER!" Zelos shouted among the noise, "Father help!!!" he shouted earning no response.

Zelos had noticed that he was not on the grounds anymore, but that he was suspended in the air. Try as he might, Zelos couldn't escape the power of black moonstones. His own magic had been rendered ineffective and now he could barely move thanks to said moonstones. Tears had threatened to fall from his eyes as Zelos struggled even harder.

'I…I don't want to die!' Zelos screamed in his head.

Suddenly, it had started to get worse. The beams from those black moonstones had somehow combined with each other forming a thick beam that had now enveloped Zelos' young body. Immediately overcome by pain, Zelos started screaming. Screaming so loudly that everyone in Soltis could hear the boy's attempts at trying to save himself.

Outside of the magical contained field the elders winced as Zelos' screams became louder. They could not see beyond the silver moonstone pillars, but perhaps they were glad they couldn't. For if they could see the pain the young child was enduring they would have perhaps stopped. Elder Prime steadied himself as he shouted the next order.

"Prepare the next step. Have the magi's pour their mana directly into the black moonstones. Guards, get the purified moonstone solution." He said watching as the mages redirected their mana and two guards carried in a small pot of liquid silver moonstone.

Inside the field, Zelos was losing conscious fast. The pain had overcome his senses. As if someone was trying to rip him in two. Although no mark appeared on his body, Zelos felt as if he was being pulled away. His eye sight failed him as did his arms and legs. He could do nothing more than float on the air. Concentrating once more Zelos opened his eyes and looked. His clothing had dissolved in the blast of mana and his skin was glowing faintly. However, this was not what had grabbed the boy's attention. A faint white…thing. It wasn't liquid nor was it a solid or a gas. But it was coming out of his body. And the more that came out, the more control Zelos felt he lost over his body.

Following where the white aura went, Zelos saw an orb floating right above him. It seemed like a silver moonstone that seemed to be absorbing the white aura. The more it absorbed, the bigger the moonstone got. Feeling the rest of his energies leave him, the boy closed his eyes. 'no…' he thought inwardly as consciousness left his body.

The moonstone kept absorbing the white aura and soon, there was no aura left to absorb and the pale silver crystal floated, unhindered by the magic's running around of it. Zelos' body had stopped responding as well.

Elder prime slowly teleported the pots of liquid moonstone into the magic chamber, letting the liquid flow into the massive purple column between the two black moonstones.

The molten liquid started reacting violently with the beams of black and silver magic. Floating slowly down, the liquid coated Zelos' body in metallic ooze and soon the entire body was hidden by the molten silver which was now warping itself a rather large, human size sphere of spinning silver. Soon, the spinning stopped and the orb had hardened as circuitry appeared to cover the silver orb.

The huge silver moonstone pillars had stopped glowing as the barrier fell down with a crash, releasing a powerful gust of magic that sent the mages sprawling into the wall as the elder's shielded themselves from the blast. Elder prime held his breath as he used the remote to send the pillars into the ground. The sight that greeted them was rather amazing. Hanging between the two black moonstones were a silver moon crystal and a rotating silver mass. The crystal was moderate in size, being able to fit in the palm of one's hand. The rotating silver mass though…

It was a large orb, human in size, but still a large silver orb. It rotated constantly in its position as if trying to find where he (it?) was. Yules' face was unreadable as he gazed upon the remains of his son.

A crystal and a Gigas.

He felt the need to vomit. To scream out to his son. To tell him he was sorry. To tell him he was a coward for not stopping it.

But he didn't. He stood there. Unmoving as a single tear drop rolled down his face. Elder Prime levitated himself in front of the Gigas as he grabbed the silver moonstone crystal.

"Zelos. Awaken." Elder Prime said.

The effect was almost instant. The orb had stopped rotating and its eye opened up. It was a small eyes located on the axis of the Gigas. The Dark green pupil stared at Elder Prime, looking at the man who had called it.

The Elder closed his eyes, unable to look into the remains of one of his own students. "The spell was complete. The silver Gigas has been created. Zelos… may you serve us well."

'Zelos' responded with a blink of its only eye.

And that's chapter one. Some things that happen in the game series will be changed greatly and some Plot Details from the game might be taken out. After all, in SoA... Zelos wasn't a human. XD Please read and review. I don't flame others so please don't flame me. If you'd like to criticize, feel free to do so.