Chapter 8

YOU AND I HAD RETURNED TO DAYBREAK TOWN, AND we were walking through the Fountain Square.

It was almost dusk.

After collecting so much Lux today, I’m sure you were exhausted. But it wasn’t long before we heard other Keyblade wielders arguing.

“Not again…,” I muttered. Such quarrels had become an all-too-common sight around town these days. You raised your head and started toward them; I could tell you wanted to break up the fight. That was just who you were.

But—

“Don’t get involved. I know it’s frustrating, but you can’t fix everything,” I said, grabbing the hem of your shirt.

You sighed, and your head drooped. “Everyone seems to have a bone to pick. I hope things don’t get any worse.”

Suddenly, the two wielders summoned their respective Keyblades. You dashed over to them, jumped between them, and blocked both weapons just in the nick of time.

“Wait! We’re all on the same side!” I shouted as I hustled over, too.

One of them snorted at the idea, apparently ready to fight you next if he had to. He was wearing glasses and some frilly clothing. “Are we? Then why did they steal our Lux?”

The other wielder, who was wearing rabbit ears and a fluffy bunny costume, shot back, “What are you talking about? We’re just trying to protect the light. I’ll bet good munny that it’s your Union that’s fallen into darkness. Traitors!”

Despite the harsh words, both of them finally lowered their Keyblades—but they were still ready to fight again if they had to.

“What did you say?! How can you prove you’re not the traitor?!”

Caught in the middle of their heated exchange, you spread your arms in an effort to prevent things from escalating.

“Hold on! We’re all on the same side!” I called, doing my best to calm them down, too. “Why are you fighting?!”

Unfortunately, they weren’t in the mood to listen.

“Mind your own business!” The wielder in the glasses raised his Keyblade, ready to strike.

“Stop it!” someone shouted.

Thank goodness! I thought we were completely on our own here!

The one coming to our rescue was Skuld.

The two Keyblade wielders gave her a dubious look.

“Who are you? Which Union do you belong to?” asked the wielder dressed like a bunny. Did no one trust people outside their own Union anymore?

“It doesn’t matter. Our only enemy is darkness. Our Keyblades aren’t meant to harm one another!”

What Skuld was saying was absolutely correct: Keyblades were for eradicating darkness.

The bunny wielder didn’t agree. “Anyone trying to steal the light is no better than a dark monster themselves!”

“What?!” Skuld cried. Almost on cue, other Keyblade wielders arrived, drawn to the commotion. They were furious with Skuld, even though she was the one reminding them of the truth.

Oh, why is this happening…?

“The war’s already begun,” said the bespectacled wielder, and Skuld faltered for a moment.

“That’s right,” one of the newcomers asserted, adding more fuel to the fire. It was Master Aced, the Foreteller in the bear mask. “We can only place trust in our own Unions. We cannot tell who has fallen into darkness with a mere glance. Why do you fight over Lux? Light is not proof of strength. Victory is proof of strength. And a strong Union is proof of justice.”

“What?” Skuld shouted. I could hear her grief.

Master Aced would not be dissuaded. “Do you disagree? Aren’t you one of Ava’s chosen wielders? One of the Dandelions? You, of all people, should be able to see that she’s using her special Union to demonstrate her power.”

Disheartened, Skuld’s gaze drifted downward—and you stepped forward to face the Master in her place.

“I don’t belong to the Dandelions,” you told him sharply. I’d never heard you so assertive.

Aced looked over at you. “What Union do you belong to?”

“Anguis,” you answered, and the Foreteller scoffed.

“Stand ready,” he said with heavy finality, and a Keyblade appeared in his hand.

You didn’t want to fight, but Master Aced didn’t care. He only closed in to take the first strike himself.

“You can’t do this!” I cried, but Master Aced had already made his choice. He closed the distance between you in a heartbeat and lashed out with his Keyblade. It was all you could do to stop the blow from reaching you.

It was hopeless, I knew… You were a goner.

You managed to buy yourself some space with a counterattack, then stepped forward and used the momentum to power an upward slash that grazed Aced’s mask. Barely, just barely.

Unfortunately, your advantage only lasted for a moment, and the Foreteller quickly brought down his Keyblade on you with terrifying power.

You tried to block, but the force of his blow still sent you to your knees.

“You are unworthy of the Keyblade.” He glowered down at you.

What should I do? What can I do?

“Enough, Aced. Put away your Keyblade.” A reproachful voice rang out through the square.

“Ira…,” Master Aced whispered.

We weren’t out of the woods yet, I knew, but I heaved a sigh of relief anyway.

“Are you not a Master? How could you harm one of our own?!”

“Hmph! I was only testing his strength.”

“You intended to do far worse than that. That’s why I came here.”

Ira and Aced glared at each other angrily. The Foreteller in the bear mask eventually dismissed his Keyblade, and I ran over to you. It was over; Master Aced’s fury had turned on Ira now.

“The final battle is inevitable now. Invi, Gula, Ava, and you, too, Ira—your Unions were so desperate to collect more Lux than the others. This war has been going on since the beginning, and you four only made it worse.”

Ira remained calm, despite Aced’s vehement accusations. “And you intend to end the conflict by force?”

Aced brushed off the question and continued. “The fate of the world is decided by a strong leader. It isn’t Lux my Union needs—we need fighters. A strong organization is essential, and only one leader is necessary to protect the balance. I’ll banish the four of you and guide all the Unions as one.”

Was there no way to get Master Aced to rethink this decision? The cold, harsh reality was setting in: We had passed the point of no return.

“Don’t overestimate yourself, Aced,” Master Ira retorted. “You don’t have the strength for that. I’ll show you what comes of such arrogance.”

Master Aced turned his back and walked away. “I’ll be waiting on the battlefield!” he barked.

Was it already too late? Was this rift irreparable? Would we never stand side by side again?

After that tense exchange, the other Keyblade wielders dispersed.

The only ones left were you, me, Skuld, and Master Ira.

“Master Ira?” Skuld asked tremulously. “He mentioned a battlefield… What’s going to happen?”

“The fated hour is almost upon us,” he replied.

“So it’s as Master Ava said…”

“It is inevitable.”

“But Master Ava told me there would be no victors in this war. Why fight it at all?!”

“Because…we must ensure there will be no victors.” Master Ira seemed almost mournful.

A battle that no one was meant to win? Then what was the point?

You were still on your knees, listening closely to the conversation.

“Prepare yourselves,” Master Ira said to us, and then he left in the opposite direction of Master Aced. Once both the Foretellers were gone and the danger had passed, you finally collapsed.

You were dreaming again. Where were you this time? You spied people in the distance. There were one, two, three…nine people in total, standing across from thirteen others clad in coats of purest black. You didn’t know who they were or what they wanted.

There was a sudden flash, a great light burning pure and true…

You were still asleep. I watched you with worry, as did Skuld beside me.

“Will he be okay?” I blurted out.

“I’m sure he will. I bet he’s just exhausted.”

“Thanks for all your help, Skuld.”

She had helped bring you home.

She smiled and shook her head. “You know, it’s getting worse by the day. I see little standoffs everywhere.”

“Yeah…”

“What’s going on with the Masters? Well, I suppose we just saw…”

I hung my head. So much was happening that I didn’t know. “Yeah… Everyone’s in it for themselves now. I don’t know what happened, but they’ve completely changed.”

“It’s true… There’s no way to avoid this war now, is there?” Skuld sighed in defeat.

That was when you suddenly spoke. “Where’s Ephemer?”

“Oh!” I looked at you in surprise. How long had you been conscious? “Great! You’re awake.”

You nodded, still lying in bed. That was one less worry on my mind.

You turned to Skuld and asked your question again. “Did you find Ephemer yet?”

Skuld’s eyes wandered for a moment, then chose each word with care as she replied. “Not yet, but I know he’s busy with a task from Master Ava. I’ve been trying to persuade as many Keyblade wielders as I can to stay away from the final battle, but most of them refuse to believe it’s even coming… In fact, even the Dandelions are starting to get nervous without Master Ava around, and morale has started to drop…”

“Wait, what happened to Master Ava?” you asked before she could finish. You sounded anxious.

Skuld shook her head, so I decided to tell you what I knew instead.

“The truth is…no one’s seen Master Ava for a while now… Master Gula might know something, though. They were friends, after all.”

You sat up impatiently, and I knew how you felt. “Let’s go ask Master Gula then,” you said.

“The fated hour is almost upon us,” Master Ira had said, but…

“You need to rest more!” I tried my hardest to stop you; you weren’t fully healed yet.

Still, you climbed from the bed. “There’s no time.”

After thinking for a moment, Skuld nodded in agreement. “…You’re right.”

“But…” I was concerned, though. I was worried for you. After all, you were my friend.

“I’ll be all right, Chirithy.” You patted me on the head.

“Okay…”

I nodded, still worried, and we left to find Gula.

Daybreak Town by night was infested with Heartless, noticeably more than usual. You could try to thin them out and collect all the Lux you wanted, but there were always more.

“Are we in the right place?” Skuld asked.

“Master Gula doesn’t come to the tower often. He tends to spend his time in one of the empty houses around town,” I replied.

If you wanted to find him, your best bet was around here, below the bridge in front of the tower.

“I’m pretty sure this is it, but I don’t know if he’ll be here.”

“Let’s check anyway.”

We entered the vacant house. It was dark inside, and apparently empty.

“It’s awfully quiet,” I commented as I peered around.

Then someone answered. “Looking for me?”

At pretty much the same moment, Gula in his leopard mask stepped out of the darkness.

“Master Gula!” I yelped in surprise, maybe a little too loudly. I wasn’t expecting it to be this easy.

“If you’re skipping out on collecting Lux to come here, then you must be part of Ava’s Dandelions.”

“Um, yes,” Skuld replied awkwardly.

“Are you looking for her?” Gula asked, but it was clear he already knew the answer. The Foretellers were so mysterious, so unknowable. It gave me chills.

Skuld’s reply was clear and honest. “We are.”

“And what will you do if you find her? Will you ask her to change fate and avoid the war? Not even Ava can do that. Or do you just want answers? Because knowledge won’t help you here.” He raised each point and immediately shot it down, warning us not to pursue a lost cause.

Even so, Skuld still looked him in the eye. “I can’t just sit around and wait for the end of the world. I’ll save as many of my friends as I can. That’s my job as a Dandelion.”

“I can certainly see why she would have chosen you. You’re just like her—always doing the right thing,” Gula remarked half to himself, his gaze lowering briefly. Maybe that last part was meant for Ava herself? “But doing what’s right isn’t enough to save the world. I don’t know if anything is. The only one who could do it would be the Master.”

“The Master?” Skuld asked.

“You’ve heard about him from Chirithy, haven’t you? The five Foretellers were the apprentices of the Master of Masters. He’s the only one who could change our fate now. No one else stands a chance.”

The mysterious Master who created me might just be the most powerful person in this world. Gula was right; if anyone could do something about all this, it was him.

“Where is he?” Skuld asked imploringly.

“And there’s the rub. The Master just disappeared one day. Ava and I have both tried to find him, but we don’t even have a clue to go on. The only one who might know where he went is Luxu.”

Master Luxu—I’d heard that name before.

“You know him?” Skuld asked, so I told her what I knew.

“The sixth apprentice. Luxu vanished not long after the Master himself.”

Skuld turned back to Master Gula. “And you can’t find Master Luxu either?”

The only way out of this was finding a way to contact the Master of Masters. Skuld was trying to follow that tiny thread of hope—but Gula just snickered.

“Of course you would ask that. You really are like Ava.” He was still laughing, but we were desperate.

“You mean, Master Ava is…”

Skuld finally put two and two together. The missing Master Ava was already on the hunt…

“Yep. She’s already searching for Luxu so she can ask him where to find the Master,” Gula answered with a hint of melancholy. He then recited a passage from a book: “Imbalance observed, strength misplaced, a future filled with sorrow… Words of truth misunderstood as they explore the secret of tomorrow…”

What was that supposed to mean? I had no idea, and Skuld asked him directly. “What’s that?”

“A line from the Lost Page… Who could it be referring to…?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Because this traitor put us on the course to the end of the world.”

Skuld gasped.

…“Imbalance observed”—that had to be someone who didn’t like having others acting without organization.

…“Strength misplaced, a future filled with sorrow”— Did this line suggest that the traitor cared for others, that there was a certain weakness to them?

Master Gula shrugged his shoulders.

“I thought I knew who it was, but it didn’t make a difference. In fact, I’ve started wondering if I was wrong the whole time.”

“‘Words of truth misunderstood as they explore the secret of tomorrow…’ What do you think that means?”

What was this “truth,” and how would it be misunderstood? I didn’t know the answer, but the stakes were high. That misunderstanding had brought us to the end of the world.

“There’s more.” Master Gula began to step away from us.

“‘With a single strike, toll the bells and herald the end, bringing war upon us, as fate did intend…’” he recited, then sat down on a crate in a corner of the room.

All of us were silent. I didn’t know what to do, but there was one thing that didn’t sit right with me.

“Should you really be sharing such an important passage from the Book of Prophecies with us?”

“Not really, but the future’s already set in stone, so I doubt it matters anymore,” the Foreteller said. In his mind, it was already too late.

Just then, the bell tolled. Was this the signal for the final battle…?

“See? It’s beginning.” Gula laughed softly, though it was hard to tell whether he was saddened or amused.

“The fated hour…?” Skuld asked. Were we… Were we too late?

“You should head back. Your Union might be calling you soon,” Master Gula said, and then disappeared.

Right around then, on the outskirts of Daybreak Town, Ava stood atop a hill that almost no one ever visited. In front of her was a man in a black coat sitting on the grass, legs splayed, and observing the city.

“I finally found you, Luxu.”

“Well, if it isn’t Ava…,” replied the man called Luxu, not turning to face her.

“What have you been doing all this time?” the Foreteller asked suspiciously, stepping closer.

“Watching,” he replied simply.

That made no sense to her. “What?”

“That’s my role,” Luxu replied, his eyes still on the town. He had apparently come to terms with this some time ago.

“What was your role?” Ava asked. She couldn’t begin to guess how the Master’s orders would have led him to this.

But Luxu’s answer was far from helpful. “To watch.”

“Huh?”

“Just to watch.”

…In fact, it was the same.

“What do you mean?”

He was shamelessly refusing to give a straight answer, and Ava wasn’t having it. But when she pushed further, he slowly got to his feet.

“Unlike you five, I didn’t get a copy of a Book of Prophecies. Instead, I have to move forward into the future the Book describes. I’ll watch this world end, then set off into the next one.”

“Huh…?” Ava was speechless. What was the Master of Masters really after?

She was clearly confused, so Luxu decided to enlighten her. “You want to avoid the Keyblade War, right? And since I up and vanished just like the Master, you thought if you came looking for me, you could find him, too. But you won’t, and you won’t save the world, either.”

Stunned, Ava could feel despair stealing across her heart, but still she forced herself to speak. “Luxu, what do you know?”

The man in the black coat slowly ambled over toward her. “The Lost Page… What’s written there is a prophecy that none of you know. The Master’s true intentions.”

Luxu was giving her the pieces, but Ava struggled to assemble them.

Because that would mean…

“True intentions? Are you saying the Master meant for things to turn out this way? That he wanted the world to end?”

“My role is to carry on the secret. The Lost Page laid out a path for this world, and I have to keep it on course. As for the Master’s true intentions, he doesn’t really care how this world ends up. He’s just watching and making sure I can fulfill my mission.”

Ava tensed up slightly as Luxu drew closer. “What’s written on the Lost Page?” she asked.

Luxu’s lips curled up into a little smile at that question.

“Luxu… Are you the one behind all this? Are you the traitor?”

Instead of answering her accusation, he summoned his Keyblade.

A Keyblade that would be used by another in a world far, far away…

Luxu whispered something into Ava’s ear.

“But…” Ava trembled at the answer he gave.

“There, you see? That’s your traitor. Can you accept the truth?”

She could sense Luxu giving her a hard look from within his hood.

“That’s why you need to accept your fate and join the battle. Even if there is another answer, it’s on the other side of this fight. Don’t you think the Master is less invested in the future of the world and more in learning where his apprentices’ hearts will guide them?”

Ava’s expression contorted with pain and shock.

“He’s more invested in us than in the world? That can’t be! Luxu…you’re twisting the Master’s will. He would never wish for this!”

Ava called her own Keyblade to her hand.

And the bell tolled.

The Master of Masters bequeathed the Keyblade to Luxu.

Luxu gazed at the weapon intently, while the Master returned to his seat, propped his elbow on the desk, and observed his apprentice. The two of them wore the same black coats, but the Master was taller—so much taller that sitting down only brought him to Luxu’s eye level.

“The Gazing Eye?” asked Luxu.

The weapon had something that resembled an eyeball embedded in the blade. Maybe it was some kind of gem carved to look that way, Luxu thought.

“That’s not what it’s called,” the Master replied with a touch of humor in his voice.

“Oh, what then?” Luxu looked relieved for some reason.

“Hmm. Actually, there’s no name,” the Master of Masters quipped lightly.

“No Name…” Luxu stared intently at the Keyblade.

“Well, ‘gazing’ or not, that Keyblade does have an eye in it. My eye, to be exact.”

Luxu cringed away. “Ew!” he yelped.

“Oh, you think that’s gross, do ya?” the Master of Masters asked, offended.

“N-no!” Luxu furiously denied the claim; he respected his teacher too much for that.

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, about your role. You need to pass down that Keyblade to your apprentice, and then him to his, so that my eye can see the future.”

The Master’s unveiling of his grand design was relatively unceremonious.

…But Luxu understood. “So the Book of Prophecies…,” he murmured.

The Master raised his pointer finger. “Bingo!” He then pointed that finger at Luxu.

“The fact that it exists is proof of your success! That means you’ve trained a worthy apprentice, passed down that handsome Keyblade, and fulfilled your role! Congratulations!”

While the Master of Masters clapped his hands to celebrate Luxu’s past achievements in the future, Luxu himself merely stared in surprise at the Keyblade.

“What’s the matter? Come on, you did a fantastic job! At least smile a little!”

Luxu only grew more confused. “But I haven’t done anything yet…,” he said. To him, there was no reason for celebration, and certainly no sense of accomplishment.

“Good point. Guess you better get started then! Unfortunately, you’ll have to go alone from here on out. No Book of Prophecies to keep you company, either. I can’t have you causing any temporal paradoxes. But, hey, we both know you’ll do just fine without it, right?”

However, there were other apprentices besides Luxu who were also in training.

“Do I really have to go alone? What about the others?” he asked.

The Master of Masters laughed off the idea. “Minor details, so don’t sweat it. For now, you, that Keyblade, and…this box need to stay out of sight.”

The Master of Masters pulled out a black box so large that lugging it around would prove challenging. The edges were decorated with a silver pattern, and it also had handles.

“Just watch with your own eyes—and my eye, of course—as things unfold between the others. Then when the time is right, go off and do your thing.”

“What’s in it?”

Luxu inspected the black box. No telling what was inside this box of mysteries. The Master had to have entrusted it to him for some special purpose.

“It’s a secret. And, well, you see…the thing is…you can never, ever open it.”

“Great, now I really wanna know,” Luxu said back. The Master seemed as lighthearted as ever, but he often joked around when he was talking about matters of grave importance. This time was no different.

“Ah, all right. I’ll indulge you. But this secret stays between the two of us, and you have to promise never to open the box.”

“I promise.”

The Master leaned in toward Luxu, then whispered to his apprentice through his hood. Luxu gasped, then looked up at his teacher. “But, why?”

The Master met the question with a meaningful smile. “You’ll see.”

He was back to his old tricks again.

But still, why that, of all things?

Luxu regarded the Master of Masters, unable to conceal his bewilderment.