Elder Sage stared silently up at the child, their features illuminated by the faint white light of his staff. A faded memory flashed through the elder's mind. A memory from many, many years ago. . .

A young boy sat on the edge of a long, stone bridge, his legs swinging slightly as they hung out over the steep cliff-side. The child's pointed white hair blew back in the cool breeze as he stared upwards, watching a manta as it circled overhead. For a moment he sat in silence, then he turned to glance back over his shoulder. The child's bronze mask glinted in the sunlight, and his cape fluttered, revealing an eye-like design woven into its red fabric. But what really stood out about the child were his eyes. . . Two small pinpricks of brilliant golden light. . .

The memory faded, and Elder Sage found himself staring up at the same child he had known all those years ago. . . But like everything else in this deserted wasteland, he had been distorted and corrupted.

The child's shimmering golden eyes had been replaced by swirling pools of darkness, and his hair--once white as newly fallen snow--was pitch black. The only things that seemed to have remained unchanged about the young boy were his glistening bronze mask and fluttering crimson cape. . . Though the strange red eye woven into its back now seemed cold and sinister.

"Leon. . .?" Elder Sage asked in a choked whisper, his eyes wide with shock. It was impossible. . . This couldn't be the same child. Leon--like the other six children of light--had been trapped in Eden hundreds of years ago. . .

The child's dark eyes gleamed dangerously as he glared down at the elder. "No. Not Leon." he smirked beneath his shimmering bronze mask and folded his arms behind his back. "Though I suppose you're half right. . ." the child trailed off, watching the elder expectantly.

Elder Sage slowly shook his head, hands trembling as he held his staff in place. This child knew him from somewhere, and he obviously expected the elder to recognize him. . . But the only thing that came to the elder's mind was Leon, and he was becoming more and more certain that this wasn't the kind young child of light he had once known. Half right. . . The child's words echoed in his mind. They had to have some kind of meaning. . .

"You still don't get it, do you. . .?" the child sighed, not even bothering to hide his disappointment. "Oh well. . . If he wants you to know, he'll tell you."

Elder Sage's head snapped up sharply, eyes narrowing slightly. "He?"

Ignoring the elder's questioning gaze, the child slid to his feet and slowly paced along the edge of the crumbling balcony, his hands still folded neatly behind his back. For a long moment, the room was unnervingly silent, the only sounds being the faint whisper of the wind outside and the echoing tap of the child's pacing feet. Finally, the young boy came to a stop, glancing down at the elder. "You know, Sage, I really expected more from you." he snapped, dark eyes glinting in the pale light. "After all you've done; all the people you've tricked. . . Well, I really thought you'd have figured it out by now. . ."

The elder's light wavered and he lowered his head to look down into the murky water. His eyebrows furrowed, and he absentmindedly dragged the bottom of his staff in a small circle through the sand. . . But no matter how far back he ventured into his memories, he wasn't able to make sense of the child's words. He couldn't recall one time he had ever tricked someone. . . Well, actually, there had been that one time when he'd helped the twins steal a pair of honey-cakes from the local bakery (he'd gone back and paid of them afterwards, of course), though he was quite certain this child's grudge had nothing to do with two missing pastries. Finally, he shook his head in defeat and returned his gaze to the waiting child. "Young one, I don't understand. If I've wronged you, somehow--"

"Wronged me!?" the child snarled, unfolding his arms and clenching his hands into trembling fists at his sides. "I was there, Sage! I was there when the children of light were sealed in Eden! You left them to die! You left me to die!" the child winced and quickly drew out of the faint glow of Elder Sage's staff, slinking back into the comfort of darkness.

Elder Sage stared up in bewilderment, his mind racing. Left them to die. . . But he hadn't left them to die! He had been the one who'd chased after the children of light. . . Who'd begged them not to go. . . Who'd tried to find another way to seal Eden's gates. . .

Then the child's next words dawned on him: Left me to die.

Slowly, the elder's eyes widened, the pieces finally clicking into place. This child looked like Leon, but he had said so himself that he wasn't. . . He acted as if he had been there all those years ago when the gates were sealed, but the elder was quite certain that he hadn't seen him. . . Unless if he had.

Half right. The words faded back into Elder Sage's mind.

"A shadow." the elder whispered softly, his heart hammering as he realized just how much danger he was in. The child that stood before him wasn't a child of light. They weren't even a spirit. . . They were a creature of darkness, a dark, twisted copy of the child of light, Leon. . . The elder shook his head and slowly backed away from the broken balcony. But all of the creatures of darkness had been sealed within Eden, which meant. . . The gates to Eden were open once more. He had to warn the other elders.

Elder Sage took another step back then turned and took off across the small sandy island, the flickering glow of his staff lighting his way through the gloom.

The child glanced up, startled. For a moment, he simply watched the elder run away, too stunned to move, then he shook his head, silently cursing himself. "Envy!" he shouted, leaping off the balcony and landing waist-deep in the sloshing water below. "Catch him!"

The dark liquid shimmered for a moment, then parted releasing the horrifying creature that had been lurking just below the water's surface. The beast's dark body dripped with foul water and its hundreds of twisted legs clicked together excitedly as the dark dragon swept up into the air, scanning the ruins with its single blue eye. It swept its head back and forth, a shimmering circle of light dancing across the ground wherever it looked. Suddenly, the light landed on the fleeing elder, and a filmy red lens passed across the creature's eye. It gave a triumphant shriek, flinging its giant body downwards towards the ground.

Elder Sage glanced up and his eyes widened in horror. "Krill." he whispered softly, sliding to a sudden halt, trying to escape the massive beast's path of destruction, but it was too late.

The Krill, Envy, smashed into the ground beneath the elder's feet, flinging up a shower of debris and sending Elder Sage tumbling to the ground. He slid through the sand, stopping at the edge of the dark water and falling still.

Envy lifted her head and hissed excitedly, her glowing red eye flashing as she prepared to deal the finishing blow.

"No!" suddenly, the dark haired child slammed against Envy's tail, drawing her eye away from the elder's still form.

She gave an annoyed hiss and flicked the child off, smacking him hard against a chunk of stone and dropping him to the floor with a dull thud. "What do you think you're doing, Kage!?" she hissed in the harsh clicking language of the Krill.

Kage winced and dragged himself to his hands and knees, sparing the elder a quick glance out of the corner of his eye. "W-we aren't meant to kill him. . ." he grunted, shuddering under the Krill's angry red glare.

Envy rolled her single eye and glanced over at the elder thoughtfully. "Oh, please, Kage. Don't tell me you care what happens to the old fool. . ." she turned and gave Kage an amused look. "He's a creature of light. He'd kill monsters like us in a heartbeat." without another word, she flew up into the air, lifting the injured child of darkness out of the sand with one clawed leg. She carefully settled him onto her back, then roughly lifted the unconscious elder up as well. She cast one last look around the dark room, then swept up into the air and flew out of the gaping hole in the roof, heading upwards towards the looming shadow of Eden.