'Sup?

Hooray! This is the first fanfic that I've worked up the guts to post on the Internet! And for one of my favorite games of all time : ). So, first order of business:

Disclaimer: Holy Spork does not own Baten Kaitos or it's characters. Okay? None of it. Nope, doesn't belong to me.

Though I'm only going so say this next bit once: all of my original characters belong to me. And if I catch anybody using them without my consent, I will not be a happy Spork.

One last thing, WARNING: Spoilers may be hazardous to health. Proceed with caution.

Now on with the fanfic!

­Dreams of Rain

Prologue: Ripples In The Water

Sunlight filtered through the windows, falling lazily into the room like golden water. The room lack furniture, decorations on the walls or ceiling, or a rug on the floor. Lit candles were scattered about the floor, all of different heights, melting wax flowing to the floor like tiny boiling rivers. Inside of the tiny room were two figures, one of a man in his late thirties, black haired, pale-skinned, with a fair face. His shoulder-length hair fell loosely around him, like a veil made of a starless patch of night. His eyes were a dark blue, almost black, like water in the deepest pit in the ocean. Despite the heat of the warm summer day, he wore a cloak of black fur, concealing the rest of his body, and whatever sheathed weapons he hid under it. The second was of a girl, no older than six. Her hair was white as snow, surprising for her apparent age. It fell loose in the back. But two braids fell by her shoulders in the front, framing her face in white. If the man was pale, the girl was an albino, lacking all color in her skin, and warmth in her cheeks. Aside from some black beads in the two braids, she wore no accessories or jewelry. Only a simple white dress concealed the fragile body, with her bare feet poking out at the bottom. Her eyes were the only things that betrayed her human-like appearance. They were totally black, irises, whites and all. Just dark pits black as ink spilled on a canvas.

The man and the girl stood about two yards apart. The man looking down at the little girl, with a look that was equal parts revulsion, fear, and caution. Two yards is normally quite a distance for two people to converse, but a quick look to the floor explains the distance. Both stood within pentagrams drawn from some dark, unidentifiable substance. Both pentagrams had complex patterns of runes and symbols, though not identical sets in each pentagram. The man stood within the first pentagram, nearest the door leading out of the room. The girl stood in the pentagram directly opposite the man. The two stood in silence for a long time. Then the girl spoke with the voice of a child, but with an unnatural undercurrent that was something like wind blowing through trees, "Why have you summoned me here?" she asked. Even with the undercurrent, the voice seemed calm and somewhat flat. As if she did not really care what happened, or had the energy to care.

"I seek something which only you can give." Said the man. His voice, in contradiction to hers, was sharp and demanding.

The girl seemed to loose interest and looked down at the pentagram she stood in. "This is blood is it not?" asked the girl, with that same calm flatness. She could have been talking about a particularly boring weather pattern, "Human blood. And from the size and complexity of these marks, you must have sacrificed two to bring me here."

"I seek something which only you can give," repeated the man. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Just as any such summoning did.

After a silence, the girl looked up at him with black eyes, "Well?" she asked, "What is it that you seek from me?"

"A Guardian," he said simply, "No Spirit has answered my calls, and so I ask of you to bring me one. So I may bond with it and attain its power."

The girl stared at him calmly for a long time. The man, to his credit, did not waver. "No," she said, "I will not summon a Spirit." The man looked positively furious. Before he could ask the inevitable, 'Why not?' the little girl started to explain, "You have no understanding of the bond between a Spirit and a living human. When a human dies, or falls into a death-sleep, they may travel to another world. If they do, they may find a suitable bond-partner, and thus create the bond you seek. Though not every Spirit can travel worlds, nor all humans hear and bond with a Spirit. It cannot be just any Spirit with any human either. So rare are such Spirits and humans that I cannot even give you an estimate of how many out of all have this power. When they do bond, they create something sacred and powerful. Two souls, bound directly to each other. Fates, lives, and souls so fiercely entwined, the bond will not ever truly break, even after human and Spirit part ways. One will become a part of the other, leave an imprint on the other, and sometimes the distinction between the two can even blur. You are not one of the humans that can be bound to a Spirit. And so to force one to bond to you would be a terrible perversion of so sacred a bond. I will not summon a Spirit."

The man stared at the girl with such anger, that any normal child of that age would cringe in fear, "You are bound to my will, by my spell and sacrifices!" he shouted at her, "OBEY ME!"

The girl merely shook her head. "I will not summon a Spirit," Said the girl, "Is there anything else you seek from me?"

"I seek to know of my master's fate," said the man bluntly, "Has he truly died? I have heard only stories, and seek the truth."

"He has died," said the girl, "His hate had been calmed. His lust for vengeance has been soothed. His suffering ended. His killing stemmed. At last, he has walked beyond life, and has found peace after life's fevered torture."

The man looked stunned at the little girl. He looked up at the ceiling, eyes glazed. The little girl knew he was seeing more that just the mundane wooden planks. "But… how?" said the man to himself, "He… he was a god…"

"Only a god by human reckoning," Said the girl, "Long ago, humans found another sentient race. They admired their power, and how they never seemed to age, or how they never seemed to be hurt by sword or fire. The humans called the creatures gods in reverence. As a fly's lifespan is to a mighty redwood's, as were humans to gods. Though even the redwood tree is mortal, and will fall at death, though it will live longer than the fly. Gods too, are mortal, not immune to the passing time and death by the blade. No more than humans. Malpercio, and all his siblings, have found their peace. They have gone to death, just as all things mortal must one day walk beyond the stars."

"Spare me you're fortune cookie riddles!" Snapped the man.

"And what of your plans?" asked the girl. She looked up at him, and looked at him with eyes like starless night, "Do you not think them flawed?"

"I have not asked you for your opinion!" snapped the man.

"You may be able to bind me to your will through profane magics," said the girl, "But do not mistake me for an inferior, mortal."

"Silence!" snapped the man yet again, slowly becoming unnerved by the being he had summoned. He knew that when such being began to speak without invitation, was when they most often said things the summoner did not want to hear.

"And what will you do," started the girl, "If your victim cannot find the way?"

"SILENCE!" shouted the man. He shifted beneath the cloak, though it was nigh impossible to see what he had done. The girl could tell though, that he had reached for a sheathed sword under the cloak. How strange it was, that a human from this world wears his weapons sheathed as such, and not in a Magnus, as such things normally were. The girl stared at the man, but remained silent. She wondered if this man would be foolish enough to try to harm her with a mere sword. She smiled inwardly, not only would it not work on her, but he would have to leave his protective pentagram to strike her. Then he would be hers for the taking. After a minute of silence, the man released his sword hilt and quickly recited the banishing spell under his breath. The girl smiled, "I know what it is you seek from this venture," she said, knowing that he could hear her while he was banishing her, "And I promise, you will find it. You will find it, and much more besides. You will not fail."

The man thrust his hands out, fingers glowing completing the banishing. The little girl smiled at him, as she faded away, like a distant memory made solid, and was gone. The man stood looking where she had stood, smiling to himself. She had promised him victory. Even if he could not have a Guardian, that was all he needed. Immortals could not lie, and such a being had promised him the world.

The world, and much, much more.

Obscurity… fun…

Where's this thing going to go now? Hehehe…

Anyway, please review! I will seriously take anything at this point. Good reviews, bad reviews, flames, it doesn't matter to me. Though I hope my stuff isn't flame worthy…