In a repeating dream of a certain man, it always starts with a scene of turning gears accompanied by the sounds of ticking clocks. Then it all shifted to a sunset. The only difference here were the sounds being replaced by huge bells that chime along to the sounds of the ocean’s waves. This man never understood what any of this meant, nor did he know the person who keeps appearing in these strange dreams: a woman with long golden hair, had eyes that were blue as sapphire, and a voice that sounded so calming. She seemed very familiar to him and yet he can't remember whether he had already met her before or not.

In the beginning of her every-appearance, she would say, "Ah, we meet again. It's been a long time..."

But this time, things seemed to be different, despite still being confusing to the man.

"Unlike before, the chances of us meeting are much higher now. It makes me happy to talk to you again like this." The woman said with a smile.

"I don't know what you're saying. I don't even know who you are—"

His words were then suddenly cut off as she interrupted. "Ah, that's unfortunate. You don't remember me. Despite how you were the one who said that you won't forget me." Her last words echoed as she said these.

Another change of scenery occurred. The man then found himself sitting on a floor made of glass with the woman standing beside him. Below the transparent floor were turning gears and the two hands of a clock slowly ticking. Everywhere else in sight was just an empty void. The man was no longer confused but was feeling a bit of sorrow in his heart as if something or someone was... missing.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll soon remember everyone bit by bit." The woman said in a cheerful tone.

The man then somehow trusted her words and closed his eyes. He began to see different people. Each of them was in different places that seemed familiar to him until the last person came.

A woman standing by a cliff with white rose petals dancing in the gentle breeze. When she soon removed her white hood, revealing her short black hair. She turned around. He finally saw her face. She was smiling at him with those emerald eyes of hers. It's what made him suddenly stop and open up his eyes once again.

"Are you starting to slowly remember everything now? Well, I have plenty of time to do anything at this moment. So, let's take this time to talk some more. I'll tell you our story, of how we all first met a long, long time ago." She said as she looked down at him. He took a silent deep breath as he clutched onto his old pocket watch before soon closing his eyes once again.

When he opened it up once more, the first thing he saw was the ceiling of his room. He then turned his head around a bit then looked through the window.

"Ah, it's already morning... I should probably get going soon," he said as he got up from his bed and took out his pocket watch.

Every morning he always wears a dark attire and a hooded cloak to hide his head whenever he visits a certain abandoned house in the middle of the forest to read that one book in the bookshelves. He already lost count of how many times he had been visiting the place just reading the book for hours on end.

He doesn’t know why he keeps doing this every single day, or why tears always stream down on his face whenever he gets to the end of the story. He doesn’t know why he kept holding the book so tightly against his chest with a strong feeling of pain and regret.

One night, he came home with the book and a couple of white lilies. Putting his worries and fear aside, he decided to finally share the story with his one and only relative. His precious niece who he took care of throughout the years.

She was excited, despite how he warned her that the story was no fairy tale and how all of it was based on true events that happened in their past, a long long time ago. Forgotten by many but remembered by few, Seeing how nothing seemed to change her mind, he then began telling her the story.

"It all started in the world of Somiar. There were once two kingdoms living in harmony. The kingdom of Ivory Moon, the land of serenity, and consists of people who are impressive mages and well-known knights, wielders of the elements of water, wind, and darkness, while Helio Vermillion is the land of the strong. It has the greatest assassins and warriors, wielders of the elements of fire, earth, and light."

"Setting their differences aside, the rulers of both kingdoms were able to keep the peace… until that day came, when they met the mysterious Sorceress. The one who gifted humankind with elemental powers by using one of the six stones of the realm. There were even once rumors that said the stones are living, breathing objects. Powerful, beautiful, and yet oftentimes cruel…"

"Control an entire army, bring the dead back to life, bend space and time in one’s will, and even turn everything in sight into nothingness. With such power and knowledge, it opened the minds of the rulers, the Sorceress, and hence, the six stones were no longer free from jeopardy. One of them seeks its power for their dark and selfish desires which leads to hunting the Sorceress down, making the two kingdoms to war. "

"The Sorceress became disappointed, losing the trust and hope with how humanity has become. Before she disappeared, she cast a curse on the six stones then hid five of them separately, but kept one with her for a certain reason."

"She continued hiding for years during the never-ending war until one midnight she finally was put to a long, deep sleep on the highest floor of the clocktower where she always sits. The place where she has been hiding for the rest of her life and even until her death. With the Sorceress gone, and the six stones were nowhere to be found."

"Perhaps it would have been better if it weren't found, but then this story would have not been written now, wouldn’t it?"

"No one would have known or remembered what truly happened in the past, but no one would have forgotten it either if things didn’t go that way. Like a certain man always tells himself…"

Fate always has its tricks up its sleeves just for its cruel sense of humor...

These were the thoughts bothering me amidst battle. I took a cold, deep breath to calm myself down to regain my focus. I drew my sword out and charged at the enemies. Their faces, filled with rage, as they came running at me with pitchforks, and big sticks on their hands.

Traitor! Traitor! Here comes the Bloody Traitor! I could hear the people of the village calling me, shouting at me at the top of their lungs in anger as they charged forward with their sticks and pitchforks, but they never fazed me as I struck them down. Their screams of pain and cries of momentary death followed, with their blood spilling, staining the cold, white snowy ground.

That's right, this was the result of my past choices. The path that I wish I never took.

The path that turned me to a so-called ‘Bloody Traitor’ of my homeland, but on the other hand, they knew me as General Alessio Amaryllis, the Head General of the king of Ivory Moon...

... And secretly known as the Guardian of the Stone of Time.