Chapter 4

FOR A LITTLE WHILE AFTER I WAS BORN, THERE WAS still only one of me, and I spent my time sleeping in the Master’s flask. I was too drowsy to do much of anything else.

On one of those days, everyone was staring at me inside my glass home.

“Oh, right, before I forget…,” said the Master, “if a wielder is overcome by malice—or rather, if their heart is tainted by darkness—their adorable little Spirit will turn dark and become a Nightmare.”

Ira’s head snapped up. “So you’re telling us that if we see a Nightmare…,” he began uneasily.

Invi, still wearing her snake mask, finished his thought. “Someone has fallen to darkness.”

“Exactly,” the Master replied. His voice was just a smidge more serious than usual. “And if you don’t stop this renegade Spirit, it’ll plant darkness in the hearts of others, and you’ll have an army of Nightmares on your hands. Beware.”

“So, if we see one of these Nightmares anywhere, we have to get rid of it on the spot,” Aced declared definitively.

“No! I won’t let you do that!” Ava shielded me where I slept in my bottle. Not that I was a Nightmare.

“No wonder you ended up as the bear. You’re scary,” Gula interjected casually, before the situation could get too uncomfortable.

“Your point?” Aced retorted uncertainly.

Ava grinned. “Maybe you can growl at them?”

“Don’t insult me!” he barked back at her.

But then the Master stepped in—and poured more fuel on the fire. “Come on, Aced. You won’t know if it works unless you try!” he said, dissolving into giggles.

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

It seemed the Master’s poor attempt at smoothing things out had cooled Aced’s temper anyway, and with the tension gone, everyone shared a laugh. It would probably be the first and last time I saw them all having a good time together.

I remember something else that happened, a few days before you met Ephemer.

The Foretellers had assembled in a room of the clocktower at the behest of their leader, Ira.

“There’s a traitor among us,” he declared once they had all arrived. It was hard to tell if anyone there was surprised—the masks concealed any emotions that might have slipped.

“Are you certain? What proof do you have?” Invi was the first to speak up.

Ira summoned an image of a black Chirithy above the palm of his hand. “I found this sniffing around.”

“Is that…a dark Chirithy?” Ava asked uncertainly, while Invi froze.

“Is that…a Nightmare?” It was the word they were dreading.

All eyes went to Ira.

“…It’s not me.”

Aced broke the silence. He was probably remembering the jokes from when the Chirithy came into the world.

“There’s an easy way to solve this. If we all summon our Spirits, then we’ll know,” suggested Gula softly.

But Invi calmly shot down his idea. “Unfortunately, there are countless wielders in our Unions. It would be easy for us to summon a Chirithy that isn’t a Nightmare. I’m afraid that your suggestion wouldn’t help us get to the bottom of this.”

She was right; there were as many Chirithies out there as there were Keybearers. No one could argue with Invi’s levelheaded reminder.

“Yeah, in that case, who’s to say that the Nightmare you saw belongs to one of us? It could belong to anyone in our Unions,” said Ava, unable to bear the distrust brewing between them.

“That’s highly unlikely,” Ira said, brushing aside the notion. “Do you recall the tool the wielders were given in order to make them stronger? We generally don’t concern ourselves with what they have at their disposal. However, I believe those tools were the Nightmare’s doing.”

Ira was referring to the Power Bangles.

“The bangles? I know when they’re equipped, they have the power to collect dark energy, but I thought we all agreed that was okay.” Ava desperately tried to argue, but it wasn’t enough for Ira.

“Collecting is fine. But using that power is the equivalent of using the power of darkness.”

“It’s a brilliant plan. Everyone knows that all the spirits look the same, and wielders exist in spades. There’s no way to tell,” Gula mused.

“Oh no. Everyone’s already equipped their bangles.”

Ava was on the verge of tears; beneath her mask, she might have already started crying.

Aced took a step toward Ira. “So now what? How do we find out who’s behind this?” he demanded, but Ira kept his cool.

“Seeing as those bangles couldn’t have been acquired by just anyone, I believe it’s one of us here in this room.” It sounded like he’d already decided there was a traitor, so Invi stepped in before he could take it too far.

“No, Ira. I respectfully disagree. What proof do we have that the bangles are tied to the power of darkness, or if a Nightmare is to blame? We shouldn’t simply jump to conclusions.”

She was trying to call everyone back to their senses, but Aced had more to say. “Ira. Some leader you are. You’ve managed to plant seeds of doubt in all of us with that speech. What? Did you expect the traitor to give themselves up with that accusation of yours? That was foolish.”

“Aced, that’s quite enough,” said Invi in an attempt to calm the situation. Ava lowered her gaze, while Gula was lost in thought. Meanwhile, Ira was peering at the other four suspiciously, trying to suss out who was the culprit.

“It looks to me like the Master made the wrong choice,” Aced spat. As if he couldn’t stand to spend another minute with them, he turned his back on the other Foretellers and stormed off.

Invi tried to stop him—“Wait. Where do you think you’re going?”—but Aced didn’t even look back.

“I think we’re done here. I trust you’ll keep us all updated,” Gula quipped in his usual affable tone, a stark contrast to Aced’s angry accusations, before he left, too.

Ava watched them go, lifting her head. “I hope… I hope we can all resolve this soon…,” she murmured, bowing briefly to Ira and then taking her leave herself.

The only two still there were Ira and Invi.

“That didn’t go as expected,” the leader of the Foretellers said with a sigh.

“What’s wrong, Ira?” Invi asked. “This isn’t like you.”

He raised his head slightly and said, “A lost page…”

That got Invi’s attention.

“Something’s missing from our Book of Prophecies,” Ira explained. “Each of our copies were said to contain the events of the future. But this incident, well, it’s nowhere to be found.”

“And how does this whole thing with the traitor tie together?”

Ira responded to her question by taking up his own Book of Prophecies and opening it. “Like I said, it’s nowhere to be found…in my Book.”

“Ira, are you implying that someone is in possession of the missing page? And the person with the complete Book is the traitor?”

Ira nodded at Invi as she arrived at one possible answer.

A Lost Page, and a traitor.

At this point, the identity of this mysterious double-crosser was still unknown to everyone.

“There is something going on, and a page is suspiciously missing from the Book. It’s not so far-fetched to assume that the one who has the lost page has been turned, that they have fallen into the hands of darkness. Trust me.”

Invi opened her own copy of the Book of Prophecies. “There seems to be no record of it in my Book, either. You may be onto something.” She paused a moment, still unsure, then cast a glance at Ira. “I wonder… Could this have been the Master’s plan all along? To grant the Lost Page to only one of us.”

“We have no way of knowing,” Ira instantly replied, and a hint of sadness crept into his voice. “The Master is gone.”

That’s right, the Master was gone. He had vanished, dimmed, faded.

No one knew his whereabouts. It was entirely possible that he was truly gone for good.

Invi spoke again, as much to dispel the gloom as anything else. “I understand what you are saying. I promise to keep a close eye on the others. I will keep you informed, as always.”

“Thanks.”

“Of course. After all, that is what the Master asked of me,” Invi said. She started to walk away, but then came to a halt, turned back to Ira, and offered one more bit of advice. “And Ira, may your heart be your guiding key.”

Now let’s jump ahead to a few days later—to the day you met Ephemer.

Aced, Ava, and Gula were together in a warehouse in Daybreak Town. Aced, the eldest of the three, was speaking to the younger two.

“I was wrong about Ira,” he said. “I thought he would make a great leader, but he let me down.”

Gula didn’t seem particularly troubled—he never did—while Ava appeared somewhat dispirited.

“Well, what do you two think? You don’t believe what Ira said, do you?”

Gula was the first to reply. “Of course not. His argument was unconvincing. It’s like Invi said: he’s just making baseless assumptions given the situation. There’s no evidence to tie his accusations to anyone, let alone one of us.”

“Maybe there’s something he hasn’t told us,” Ava gently admonished—mostly because she didn’t want to believe Ira’s claims herself.

“Then he needs to tell us. How dare he look at us with suspicion. We’re his comrades!” Aced snapped with genuine anger.

Gula simply shrugged. “I wouldn’t call us ‘comrades’…,” he murmured. “Anyway, could you get to the point? I know you didn’t call us here just to complain.”

Gula wanted to cut to the chase and get this meeting over with as quickly as possible, which was why Aced didn’t beat around the bush before laying out his proposal. “I want the three of us to form an alliance.”

“But alliances are forbidden, Aced!” Ava immediately refused.

“I knew it. I had a feeling it might come to this. So we join forces, then confront Ira?” Gula seemed a bit exasperated, but he knew where Aced was coming from.

“Confronting him is pointless. Ira won’t change his mind.”

Aced was normally so blunt, but here he was being just a tad equivocal. It made his two comrades wonder if he didn’t actually suspect Ira at all.

Meanwhile, Aced kept laying his cards on the table. “I know there’s darkness at work. There’s no question. But I don’t believe for a second there’s a traitor among us. Unfortunately, Ira doesn’t share the same belief. He’s just wasting time trying to figure out who the traitor is. But darkness won’t wait, and neither should we. We need to band together now and find a way to fight it.”

“Guess it makes sense,” said Gula, impressed by Aced’s fluid presentation of his idea.

“I agree that we need to do something to fight the darkness, but combining our Unions? That was strictly forbidden by the Master.”

It seemed Ava was still just as unsure of what to do as she was at the meeting the other day.

“He’s no longer here,” Aced said quietly, his eyes drifting away. The three Foretellers all fell into thought. Gula was the first to break the short silence.

“I’m in. But let’s be clear: the alliance is just between the two of us right now. I don’t want my Union members involved.”

“Gula!”

Ava raised her head to look at her fellow apprentice, who had just chosen to go against the teachings of their Master. Ava looked away once she realized Aced was watching her, then said, “I want… I want to follow the Master’s teachings.”

Aced’s reply was unexpectedly kind. “Understood. That’s your choice to make. You should do whatever you feel is right.”

“Yeah.” Ava nodded with relief, and her gaze drifted downward again.

But Gula still had questions. “By the way, Aced, do Ira and Invi know?”

“I haven’t talked to Ira about it for obvious reasons, but I did ask Invi to join us,” said Aced. His eyes moved to the entrance of the warehouse—just as Invi herself arrived.

“You wanted to see me?”

She stopped short as she noticed the younger two.

“Gula, Ava, what’re you doing here? What’s the meaning of this?”

Gula gave an easy wave of the hand, while Ava kept her eyes lowered.

“Hear me out, Invi. I want an alliance among our Unions. Gula here has already agreed. Will you join us and together we can—”

“And disobey the Master’s teachings?!”

Invi cut off Aced’s entreaty harshly, but he didn’t give up.

“We don’t have a choice! Darkness is approaching, and we need to combine our strength to stand against it.”

“The Master bestowed each of us with a different role, and he specifically told us to keep our Unions separate to maintain the balance of power. He told us any imbalance would lead to a desire for more power, which leads to darkness. I know you haven’t forgotten! Perhaps…it’s you who has been tainted by darkness.”

Tainted by darkness…

The Foreteller in the bear mask trembled in anger at such an accusation.

“I’m tainted by darkness? Then what about you, Invi? You spy on us and report everything you see back to Ira! You really think you have no darkness in your heart after what you did?!”

“Because that is my role,” Invi replied coolly to her furious comrade.

“To observe us, yes. But not to disclose everything we say and do to Ira!”

Invi averted her gaze at Aced’s fierce reproach. And he still wasn’t done.

“For all we know, you and Ira could be allies, scheming behind our backs!”

“That’s enough.”

Ava watched their angry exchange uneasily.

Now it was evening.

Ava was in the square alone, sitting on the edge of the fountain and gazing absentmindedly at the sky.

“When will it stop? I don’t want us to turn against each other…,” she whispered.

Just then a lone Keyblade wielder approached—Ephemer, the boy with silver hair.

“Master Ava!” he called. The two of them had met before.

“Oh. Hello! Your name is Ephemer, right?”

“Uh-huh! Uh, hey, can I join you?”

“Uh-huh,” Ava replied, and then Ephemer sat down next to her.

“Why the long face? Did something happen?” he asked straightaway.

“Long day… Do you remember what you asked me before? About why the Unions compete against each other instead of working together? Actually, I always wondered the same thing.”

“Huh? Isn’t it just because the Master said so?” Ephemer asked, confused.

“Yes, and as such we must obey. The Master said so, so it is. But lately, I’ve really started to wonder. You once told me that you were looking for answers, that you wanted to solve the mysteries of this world. Well, I think that’s how things should be. We need to question things and think for ourselves.”

Ephemer shrugged. Was that how she really felt? “Whoa! You’re really not yourself today. I guess even Foretellers have their off days. Hey, maybe talking about the Book will cheer you up!” he offered cheerily.

Ava’s mood improved a little, too. “Not a chance!” she said with a smile.

“Awww,” Ephemer complained with exaggerated petulance.

“You were trying to pull a fast one on me, weren’t you?” she scolded good-naturedly, like a teacher to a misbehaving student.

“No, no, I was joking!”

“If you say so.” Ava stood, and the conversation could have ended there. But then she seemed to have second thoughts. “But, to be honest, I think it would be great if all the Unions could work together and be friends.”

Ephemer perked up and hopped down from the lip of the fountain.

“You know, I made a friend from another Union today. Wasn’t much of a talker, maybe just shy. We’re meeting again tomorrow.”

“That sounds like so much fun! Then, you’d better go home and get some sleep.”

“’Kay!” he replied enthusiastically before telling her earnestly, “Well, it was nice talking to you. I don’t know what’s got you down, but please cheer up!”

With a proper bow, Ephemer then hurried off on his way.

“Thank you,” Ava murmured as she watched him go. “If the worst happens, I’ll be glad to leave the future to the kids who see the world in the way that you do.”

With this resolution in her heart, Ava looked up at the sky. A single fuzzy dandelion seed danced in the air, brought to her by the breeze.

“Let the wind carry you far, far away…my Dandelions.”

The sun set over Daybreak Town.

Aced was alone in the Master’s chamber, waiting for the Master himself. It was completely silent, except for the turning gears.

“You been here long?” the Master called when he finally returned. “My bad.”

“No.” It was easy to tell Aced was nervous, even with the bear mask covering his face.

“So, what did you want?” The Master sat down in his chair and looked up expectantly at Aced.

“You didn’t forget, did you? You’re the one who called me here,” the Foreteller replied, startled.

“Lighten up, I was just kidding! I didn’t forget. Give me a little credit here. I was just testing you!” The Master loved his jokes, but Aced was just confused.

“R-right…”

“Now then, allow me to tell you about your role. You’re going to be Ira’s right-hand man.”

“What? Ira’s right-hand man? What do you mean?”

That sounded awfully big for such an offhand announcement; now Aced was even more bewildered. Either way, it was evident the bear-masked Foreteller didn’t think much of the idea.

“Well, Ira’s gonna be the new leader after I’m gone, you see, so just stand by him,” explained the Master, who then turned to his desk and opened the Book of Prophecies, indicating that there was nothing left to be said. “Don’t disappoint.”

“Explain to me, Master. What do you mean Ira’s going to be the leader?” Aced persisted, perhaps dissatisfied with his assigned task. The Master turned to face his pupil.

“What? Is that disappointment I hear? Did you want to be the leader?”

Aced snapped to attention. “No!” he cried hurriedly. “I mean, if you had asked me to be the leader, that’d be a different story, but I wasn’t trying—”

“You really wanna be leader, huh?” the Master of Masters teasingly remarked.

“I, well…”

“I know you want it, but that just isn’t enough. Any chump can say, ‘You! Here’s a huge promotion. Good job!’ and make you head honcho, but enthusiasm alone doesn’t make a great leader. Ira needs someone like you to give him a push in the right direction,” explained the Master readily.

“I agree; Ira is definitely the most worthy among us. I’m sure he’ll make a fine leader.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Though the Master turned away, suggesting the conversation was at an end, Aced just couldn’t let the issue go.

“Wait, I agreed that he is worthy. But why do we need a new leader, Master? Does—does that mean you will no longer be teaching us?”

The Master pondered the question for a moment, then slowly replied. “Well…I might disappear one day…”

Aced swallowed nervously.

“Well…I might disappear—,” the Master repeated, hamming it up with a weak, melodramatic performance.

“Disappear?! Why? Where?!” Aced demanded.

“Speak up sooner if you’re listening. That was embarrassing for me! Anyway, I don’t know if I’m gonna disappear or not. It’s anyone’s guess right now.” Sweeping his embarrassment under the rug, the Master quickly shifted back to the main topic.

Aced still wasn’t satisfied. “But…”

“In any case, you need to support Ira,” the Master continued, trying to mollify him. “We both know he’s quite serious. He’s always just thinking and thinking and thinking behind that unicorn mask of his, so everyone will be counting on you to spur him into action.”

“Uh…right,” Aced acquiesced, though he was still at a loss.

Slowly, the Master stood and put a hand on his student’s shoulder. “You might not be entirely happy with your role, but just know that it’s the most important one. Capisce?”

The hint of kindness in the Master’s voice only confused Aced more.

“Shall I elaborate? Making Ira the leader is all good in theory, but sometime later you might think, ‘Ooh, he’s terrible at this,’ in which case it’ll be your job to step up. Who knows? Your leadership might be just what everyone needs. And that is your true role,” the Master of Masters whispered into his student’s ear.

At the end of his speech, he had one final, terribly important bit of advice.

“May your heart be your guiding key. Best of luck, Aced!”