Wait... What was the start of all this? When did the cogs of fate begin to turn? Perhaps it is impossible to grasp that answer now, from deep within the flow of time.
But for a certainty, back then we loved so many yet hated so much; we hurt others and were hurt ourselves. Yet even then we ran like the wind whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...
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I don't know what it is, but...
The dream is always the same. I'm standing, waiting for something. The question is, will I be in time to save the earth?
It's the same dream every night. I am myself, Kirk Sabre, however "I" am radically different from "me". The dream Sabre is confident, and in control. He has a weapon, a Swallow, and he battles. He has been trained in many fighting arts, and his reflexes and abilities are far beyond anything I could achieve in life. We look the same and think the same. Maybe he's a mirror of what I could have been, if my life were his.
I've seen him... been him, in a way. Every dream, I am him. It's like I'm a part of his mind. I'm seeing everything through his eyes, acting as him. But I know things, ways to react, where to stab, where to hit, and how to react. Things that I don't know in real life. I'd say that he's a creation of my imagination, a dream character, but he seems so real.
Maybe he's a different Kirk, on an alternate timeline to our own... or maybe I've been playing too many video games, and my perception on reality is distorted. Ha ha...
In any case, I've lived out his whole life. I've been him through some of his most trying times, and some of the easiest. More of the latter then the former. He is a Chosen, a rare breed of people who have a natural advantage of physical and mental prowess. He was taken in at a young age to a temple, where the servants and maids tended to him until he was 7.
When he turned 7, he was tested for the Voice of Gods. It is said that a true chosen hears the voices of the gods speaking to him, telling him of the future, the past, and the present. He passed the test with flying colors, and was said to be the most gifted of the age.
He was trained in the ways of the Arts, a way of fighting, intense and rigorous in it's training, yet the most effective fighting style of the plane. When other planes invaded, when the Soltari or the Phyrexians decided they wanted to overstep their boundaries, the Chosen drove them off. Some special Chosen were trained in the ways of the Dragoon warrior. They were the Gifted.
Kirk completed his training at the age of 15, unheard of before then. The Chosen usually complete their training at the age of 18, and are then accepted into ARMS, an auxiliary military force for the plane. The laws of the plane of Xenon forbid anyone under 18 from joining in a military expedition, so he was graduated from the Temple of Shadow, and told to return to the temple in 3 years time.
It was hoped that traveling by himself through the world would allow him to gain even more experience, and further his skill, possibly to a level not even dreamed of. It has been one year since he left...
During his travels, he happened upon a stone tablet, buried in a cave deep in the Goblin Mountains. It described the plight of the world in the form of the Moon That Never Sets, and the moon child, who ascends to fill the world with holy bliss. It was the final memories of Rose, who had been hunting the moon children for the past millennium, taking the form and identity of the 'Black Monster'.
Sabre had heard stories of the Black Monster, a demon who comes to earth when the Moon That Never Sets glows red. It would appear, and wreak complete havoc, only to fly away and not appear again for the next 108 years.
Rose said that she had missed one of the moon children years ago, getting her twin sister instead of her. She had met her end saving a young man named Dart from the clutches of the dragon Feyrbrand. She asked whoever found this tablet to carry on the legacy, and protect the world one more time. There was a possibility that by killing the spirit of the final species now that it had matured, it may destroy it for good.
He decided that it was in his best interests to track down this Shana before the spirit of the Virage embryo became apparent in her. He spent the next year looking across the world for the girl named Shana with the destruction of the world living inside her.
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'I' finally found her. I confronted my nemesis, Shana, the moon child. By the idiocy of one named Dart, she had gained the power of the Silver Dragon. It was great battle, the MasterMune blazing in 'my' hands.
Kirk had received the MasterMune from two entities that visited him in his dreams several years ago (a dream in a dream. Strange, neh?). One was named Melchoir, and one Gaspar. They told me that they were from an uncertain future, and that soon I would be fighting a great evil, one that I could not possibly comprehend. Gaspar gestured, and in Melchoir's hand appeared a blade; a yoroi-toshi, a Swallow. He gave this to me, saying that it was named the MasterMune, the final blade of Justice.
"Sealing the spirits of Masa and Mune, who inhabit the Masamune, and the spirit of the Garai, who inhabits the Einlanzer, together into one weapon, made from the shell of a Rainbow, was no easy task. But we accomplished it. Take this, and use it well. When the time comes, listen to it. It will know what to do."
As Gaspar spoke these words, he vanished, taking Melchoir with him. I awoke to find the MasterMune clutched in my hands, as well as a small egg, which I am currently carrying with me. I do not yet know the purpose of this egg, but any egg represents potential, and I feel that it will be useful, both as a good luck charm in the coming battle, and in finding my way home.
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Anyways, back to the threat to the world. I was fighting Shana. I had tracked her down through her friends, and was prepared to kill her with no remorse. She was cornered, and there was no escape. I had planned to get her here, where her screams would echo and combine with the screams of the ghosts inhabiting this place. I knew that far too many a hero had been destroyed because of a long speech, eventually leading up to stalling too long, and enemy re-enforcement's arriving. However, I felt the need to justify myself in the eyes of this girl, older then me by a few years. I had to make her realize that she would destroy the world if she was allowed to continue living.
That was my mistake. Simply telling her that I must kill her set off a reaction inside of her, and I did not expect her to posses the Silver Dragoon Spirit. Would that I was the possessor of one as well, the battle would have been quick, I think. Unfortunately, I am not, and the battle was long and hard. She had the advantage of flight, and the Armor of the Dragoon protects its wearer well. The MasterMune, which I learned long ago could talk to me, anticipated her movements, and gave me suggestions, one time even controlling itself as it swiped at her chest.
Still, flight gave her an extra dimension of movement, making even grazing her, very difficult. She continued to fight like a hawk, hovering above and picking at me with her blasted arrows. I was able to block the majority of the arrows, but twice did she pierce my defense. I still carry the scars of that with me. A short narrow scar goes horizontally across my right cheek and my chest is still healing after one of the arrows went straight into my abdomen, narrowly missing vital organs.
Kirk let out a war cry, and the MasterMune began to sparkle with the colors of the rainbow, calling forth every speck of power the spirits could give it. He hurled the weapon at her, piercing her clean through her stomach. She screamed, and the same white pillar began to appear around her. An intense wind whipped up, drawing everything towards the pillar, and it slowly grew, swallowing everything that was in its path, including me. I felt a hot embrace, like arms of lava surrounding me, and then everything went black.
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I woke to someone shaking me violently. I sat up with a start, only to lie back down and succumb to the powerful force of vertigo, and promptly emptied the contents of my stomach onto the ground beside me. After becoming suitable again, I turned my attention to my rescuer. He was a striking young man, with blond hair done in a *very* cool spike, blue eyes, and a black tattoo that ran down the left side of his face.
"Wow, man, you okay? I mean, ya just like appeared here. Well, not just appeared, 'cause of that white light and all... when it was gone, ya were just lying there, like ya were dead... but then I checked ya'r breathing and you were still alive, so I woke ya up, and then..."
I looked around. The landscape and the feel of this place was reminiscent of the real world. It didn't posses any of the feeling of strangeness that came with being thrust into a dream world and another's body. I turned over, and felt a sharp stab of pain. A rock was digging into my back, but... during the dreams, all sense was far away. Pain was barely there. But now...
"Ummm... yes..." I mumbled. The boy with me was *very* talkative, but his intentions were clearly not hostile. "Thank you very much. For everything you've done. May I ask your name?"
"Zell. Zell Dincht. But just call me Zell. But don't call me 'chicken-wuss', or 'kid', or anything else like that because if there's one thing I hate, it's people who call me..."
"Thank you, Zell." I cut him off. I did not yet know where I was, suffice it to say it was not where I left. About this time, I should have woken up in bed, ready to go to school. Instead, I was in a forest, and green surrounded me. There was a small pond, or lake or something, stretching off to my right beyond Zell, and on the other side, dense forest. A small trail wove between the trees ahead of me. I was about to introduce myself, when he handed me the MasterMune. I sat there, speechless.
"And *you* are Kirk Sabre. And *this* is yours. It's called 'MasterMune', right?" He sat there with his eyes sparkling, knowing that I was growing more confused.
I took some time to think about what had happened. I searched my mind, and found all the knowledge of the dream Kirk sitting at my disposal. My body's reflexes were incredible, and I was a lot surer in all my actions. Maybe I really was the dream Kirk. Maybe I had transcended from a dream state to actually take the form of another person.
I nodded dumbly. "How... did...?" I began.
"It told me. Or he told me. Or they told me, I guess, but in any case, when I touched it they talked, and they told me they were called MasterMune, and that their owner, Kirk Sabre, was pretty close, so I guessed it was you, 'cause it sure ain't me, and ya'r the only other person around." He grinned and flashed me a thumb's up, signifying that his suspicions were confirmed.
"I should have guessed... Are you guys okay? What happened?" I asked the weapon. It glowed, and their voices echoed throughout my mind.
"We are weak," said Masa.
"We are dying," declared Mune.
"We need rest," Garai claimed.
"We must leave..."
"For a little while."
"Our existence depends on it!"
"Revive us!"
"Find a way to bring us back!"
"Until then..."
"Farewell..." They all said together, and their presence from my mind faded.
The weapon flashed, glowing with all it's spectral energy like a sun, then faded. When I was able to look at it again, my MasterMune was nothing more then an average Swallow. Gone was the rainbow flashes, gone was the light from its insides, and with them, gone were the voices in my head. The voices of my friends Masa, Mune, and Garai, were silent.
They recognized me... my mind. I must really be the dream Kirk. I was still me, but a different timeline, a different life had changed me. I wondered if my mind could handle this new person to all my potential.
I called to them, hoping to find them still hiding away inside my brain somewhere, but to no avail. All I found was silence and emptiness.
"Hey, what happened?" asked Zell, his voice piqued with the curiosity of a 6-year-old. "It was all cool-looking and then all of a sudden it was gone. What happened?"
"They left," I replied. "All of them left."
I stood up quickly, taking check of my surroundings and my companion, who was a bit startled by the whole incident, so it seemed. All my belongings were still with me, including the egg, and my weapon, minus three friends.
"I must bring them back! Zell, where's the nearest city?"
"Woah... 'kay, man. The nearest city isn't even really a city. It's Balamb, and it's a Garden. It's where I work, I guess. I'm a member of SeeD, the special forces of the Garden. I'm just coming back from a mission, so I'm goin' back there. I was gonna take you with me anyways, and since you wanna go there, let's just go. It's not that far, we should reach it in a day."
"Allright. I appreciate your kindness, Zell. Thank you."
"Nothin' to it, man. I've been starving for adventure ever since the Sorceress Wars, and this looks like a pretty good opportunity. I'll take you to see Headmaster Leonheart when we get there."
And so, we've set out, and should reach Balamb soon. Zell has told me all about the adventures he's had with his companions, and I've told him some of my own. This should be a pleasant journey, and with any luck, some answers lay ahead.