“I want to create!”

A wish uttered out by a legend.

“The world will bend to my will!”

A command shouted out by an emperor.

“I just want her to come back.”

A cry yelled out by a desperate man.

Three different phrases, all having only one thing in common. The thing they share is that all three of them were said by those who came from the Rage Continent. Ancient figures who carved the foundations that the Rage Continent of today still abided by.

Countless tales surround these three phrases, but the truth was long forgotten to all but few on the Rage Continent.

The current of time threatens to wash away all that was, but there are always those who will remember the path that lead them to where they are now.

On the current day of the Rage Continent, a man sits in a small cabin tracing the spine of a book with his finger. A child sits in front of him, looking upwardly expectantly towards the man. Clearing his throat, the man begins to talk of a story surrounding the first phrase.

“I want to create. A phrase you’ve heard very much in your childhood and will surely continue to hear, but do you know where that came from?”

The boy shakes his head back and forth vigorously and the man continues to talk.

“It wasn’t a god who said it or an ancient beast, it was a simple boy. The boy had a loving family, but alas he was cursed by an illness when he was young and went blind. His family grieved, but they continued to care for him and treat him well as a family should. But the boy was like any of his age, he had an insatiable curiosity. But the boy couldn’t explore, he couldn’t see the outside world and touch upon its mysteries like all those around him. His heart was filled with boredom, he had nothing he could do.”

The man opens his book revealing a set of empty pages, and a pen appears in his right hand, already dipped in ink. He continues to speak as he pushes the pen onto the paper.

“So since he couldn’t see the world around him, the boy instead imagined wondrous creatures and soon a world began to form inside his head. All of his time had been taken up by these wondrous ideas he had. But the boy could not write, and he didn’t have the ability to explain the wonders that he saw to the people in his life. His world was contained to his own mind, and that saddened him.”

The man removes his pen from the book and turns it to the boy, showing him several images of creatures in a world unknown to man. The boy looks amazed to see the wondrous things, and the man smiled and continued his story.

“As the boys world grew larger and larger, his desire to show people the wonders grew and grew just the same. The people around him simply smiled as he tried to explain it to them, but they could never truly know what he saw. It wasn’t until one fateful day, when the boy heard a passing voice in his head.”

The man once again clears his throat, and tries to make his voice sound small and weak for the voice he was about to imitate.

“I… want...to...be...real.”

The man quickly switched back to the voice he used for normally telling the story, wanting to get to the next part of the story as soon as possible.

“Hearing the voice the boy could only cry. He only now realized that just like how he wanted to show the world that he envisioned to people, the world itself wanted to be shown. It had moved past something that was just a thought. Realizing this, the boy could only do one thing. He asked the world for something, the same world that had taken away his sight.

The man paused for a moment and turned to the boy again.

“Do you know what he said?”

The boy shakes his head again, and the man smiled preparing to continue the story.

“The boy clasped his hands together in prayer for the first time in his life. He was not old enough to create a grandiose speech, so his words were simple. “Just like you... “ His words flew out into emptiness, there was no-one. But that was ok, because it wasn’t anyone in particular he was addressing but the world itself. And then he said those fateful four words. “I want to create!” And, the world listened. The creations that he had envisioned all came into reality, they were real, physical! The land around him changed as well, pillars of stone began to float in the air, water began to flow up instead of down, it was truly a miracle.”

The boys eyes glisten and he shouts out. “That’s just like where we live!”

Laughing the man ruffles the boys hair and nods his head. “Correct! The boy from this story was the founder of the Mind’s Eye, the group that I’m a part of.”

The boy smiles wildy, amazed at the story the man told him. He starts to ask another question but notices that the man’s smile had disappeared from his face completely. The boy quickly leaves the room, recognizing the face that man had made many times before.

The man pulls out a red crystal the size of a pebble from his clothing, and from it a gruff voice can be heard. “I’m at the designated spot, but there’s a complication. If it was anyone else here I’d be confident but…”

The man’s right eyebrow arches up, and he tells the voice on the other end to report the complication. “It’s the Void Thief.”

Air flows out of the man’s nose and a vein on his head slightly begins to bulge in anger, but his response to the man is spoken with a completely calm tone.

“Try to reason with him, if he doesn’t seem like he’ll cooperate then you need to immediately obscure his vision. His techniques can only hit you if he knows where you are. Don’t worry about killing him, you need to focus on the main target. Kill Rei, and after you do that I give you permission to leave immediately.”

For a few moments, the red crystal remains silent. The voice on the other end then once again begins to speak. “I can do that but I’d really appreciate if I could get some reinforcements, he’s not an easy foe to deal with.”

“That would be impossible. I’m under pressing matters myself, and can not get into contact with the others at the moment. You have to do this alone.” A blatant lie, both men know that the words he had spoken were not true. However, only response to that lie would be allowed by the man.

“Understood.”

The crystals red coloring quickly fades into black, and the man puts it back into his clothing. His gaze shifts until it is facing the direction of the Abyssal Mountains. He begins to think aloud, a hint of pity in his voice.

“I would hate to be in the place you are now. I’m sure you didn’t even hear the words that monster said. Don’t interfere… I’m sure he’s talking about whatever Rei’s doing. But why does he care? Just what kind of connection could she have with it?”

The mans face wills with resolve, and his voice rises to a boom. “I don’t care who you’re connected to! I won’t allow you to rise and devour me, rather you’ll become the one who’s devoured.”

Working in the shadows, the man continues to plot against Rei. And at the same time, his pawn confronts the Void Thief.