Author's Note: Again, I want to say my apologies if there are mistakes for the language (grammar, vocabulary, etc.) because I' m really suck at it (I'm not a native and active English speaker, you know). Critics are graciously welcomed.

By the way, I'm not really good at writing prologues, so I took some influences from other stories.

Disclaimer: Xenogears and all of its contents are copyrighted to Squaresoft.

PROLOGUE: THE WOUNDED LITTLE BIRD

I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA

THE FIRST AND THE LAST

THE BEGINNING AND THE END

(King James' Bible)

The storm enraged. Lightning evoked and creating noises "Boom!" to gash the surface of the land. Thunderbolts also wants to show how strong it was, stroke the earth as if it was being used by Zeus. The rain poured so burst. Millions of water droplets fell to the terrain, as if like to portray millions of shots fired from the long-torn war between Av and Kislev.

However, these circumstances didn't seem like to halt a man who was hiking up the hill. He walked as slow as a snail, not because he was exhausted, but for the reason that he did not want to hurt a teenage boy he was carrying on his arms anymore in terms of debauched conveying and treatment style. He strode effortlessly, attempting not to aggravate the boy with pain as the rain drips to his heavy cloak, which was already soaked by blood. When he reached a village, he clogged. The flickering light inside the houses can be sighted from their windows, giving an image as of a welcoming asylum. He thought for a second, which house should he choose…? Then, at random, he strolled towards a path, and knocked on a door.

"Come on in." A man's voice can be heard. His words expressed in gruff with urgency. The man whom answered had stereotypical kind of Av villagers, a middle-aged man with well-tanned and well-muscled body from everyday hard work. He helped the outsider in, and assisted him to lay the boy he was carrying on the sofa. The villager's eyes examined the stranger thoroughly, from his stiff legs covered in hefty boots, his blood-drenched arms, to his dark eyesight, covered on a Kabuki-style mask.

"Dan, ask Chief Lee to call Doc and come here. Alice, get me hot water, dry cloth, a towel, and bandages." The villager ordered his nephew and niece like a drill sergeant instructed his obedient soldiers. As the younger boy ran out into the shadows of the night and a pretty girl in her mid-teens loped to boil water in a kettle, the villager spun back to the stranger. He stood poker-faced in the middle of the room like a tower in a storm. "Is this your son?"

The stranger gazed hypnotically at the villager. His black eyes were expressionless behind his mask.

"His name is Fei Fong Wong." the stranger's speech was deep, reverberating, and everlasting, like a voice reflected from a rock, instilled with infinite serene.

The villager picked up a knife from the sideboard and began to rip away Fei's blood-drenched shirt with his hands, acted like an expert paramedic with emergency standard operational procedure. The boy's face was pale, and his limbs shivered. He seemed tiny and young, like an aggrieved little bird, but the villager supposed his age was about 15 or more. Humid hair spread out from his forehead like a curtain of sodden blackness, the ends tacked with dried blood. Underneath the shirt, Fei's abdomen and arms were scored with long jagged slashes; none was mortally deep, but all of them were bleeding freely.

"Was he in the army? Or was he attacked by a wild beast?" The villager's tone was incredulous, as he knows the Av military conscription couldn't reach the boy's age, and the wounds that tore his body did not look like marks from claws, teeth, or gunshots.

The stranger seemed to draw these inquiries deep inside his eyes, veiling it in the darkness.

"Take care of him." He spoke in his calm-rock like voice.

Before he went, he slipped something into the boy's ripped trouser pocket. It's a bronze shining cross pattern pendant with a ruby entrenched at the center. Then, he unexpectedly turned and strolled into the night without feeling jammed. The villager stared to the bloody figure on the sofa, and at that point, he looked through the window and stated, "I need to consult with Lee. This could be a serious problem."

Fei opened his eyes. However, for the reason that he didn't have the strength to hold, he closed them again and vice versa in unarranged tempo. After a minute, he only attempted to open them deliberately to let small light inside in small doses.

"Fei?" The voice was deep, likewise giving him a calming presence. It came out from a strong, yet caring face that leaned over him to look. A face encased with black hair.

"Father?" Fei murmured. He can felt his brain anaesthetized, making him only be able to remain inaudible, as he was very difficult to respond.

The man shook his head, as he answered, "I am Doctor Citan Uzuki. You are in the village of Lahan at the eastern edge of Ignis. Just a week ago, a man wearing blue cloak brought you and came here with serious injuries. Since then you were having in a fever and felt unconscious. I tended the wounds on your chest. Now your temperature is back to normal so you don't have to worry about it. Do you remember anything?"

Fei tried to operate his brain cells in order to access his memory. However, it felt like a great challenge for him, as the only thing he could thought was nothing but a blank canvas of obliviousness. Something was concealing them from his mind. As he attempted again vigorously, the veil became a large wall, foiling his efforts to recall them.

"Uh… It looks like… i can't… remember…" Fei let out a sincere sentence, because he did better told the truth. The doctor's eyes looked snivel, endeavored to tranquil his delicate condition, "Fever may often cause amnesia. You'll remember after you have fully recovered in a day or two."

Tactlessly, the wise doctor's words could not be seen in Fei. A week came and passed, and Fei couldn't reminisce anything prior to his awakening at the Village Chief's house. Time passed, as he was insentiently being inducted into the dust of time, which showed him a new way of life as a man who was naturally born as a villager. However, as he interacts and making relationships with Lahan youths, the tendency to access his memory has gradually changed to a new will to preserve a peaceful life.