EPISODE 27: A PLACE TO RETURN TO AND THE SEAL OF THE END

I've come a really long way in life in just these nineteen years of my life. At this point, as I sit in my homeland, in the land of the Dagara, I can't help but reflect on everything I've been through with everyone in my life. Just about a year ago and I'd never have imagined that my life would have taken such a drastic turn. So far, I have only told you my story and my desire to reclaim the seven elemental stones from the souls of evil. But since this book marks the end of my journey, I would also like to leave you with the lessons I've learned so far. By the way, My name is Zan Nightbane; in my homeland, the name Nightbane, my father's name is transliterated as… '....'. Oops, nearly spilled it. Sorry, it's an important plot element I can't spoil now but if you haven't figured it out by now, you'll really hate yourself later. The clue is this; "the most valuable lessons are almost always the most obvious ones. Yet, the most valuable lessons are the hardest to see". By the way, my name's Zan; just Zan, it means "Dream".

About twenty years ago, a war was waged between the world of Dreams and the world of Nightmares. This was because, the Nightmare king, my father broke the most sacred and inviolable law in the Dream World. The law was this; "The people of Dreams, and the people of Nightmares must never mix blood" but that insane man did not just mix blood with a person from the Dream World; he mixed blood with the Princess Of Dreams herself. Fortunately, my dad, though the Nightmare King had a good heart; even when his powers were predominantly of darkness. The reason for this law was a prophecy that existed through generations in the World Of Dreams;

"The next Dreamweaver born nine hundred and ninety three

And a thousand revolutions from the day of Zanfar's sealing

Will bear the seal of the Dark Lord;

And by his hand shall endless darkness envelope

Both the world of dreams and of reality;

However, though the union of Light and Darkness

Will bring forth an incarnation of disaster,

The tears of true love shed by the Princess Of Dreams

Shall give to the incarnation a choice;

To yield to the path of Light and Love;

Or fall to the path of darkness and hatred;

The choice shall be his to make…"

P.S. I'm mostly paraphrasing for even more dramatic effect. That Dreamweaver was me. But when I was born, I wasn't an incarnation of disaster you see? About a year earlier before my birth, my dad was mortally wounded by the Dream King with the Nightbane; a sigil that exists for the sole purpose of slaying Nightmares. It was an irony that my dad would be slain by a sword bearing his name. But he didn't die; my mom shed tears for him. Her tears flowed into his wounds and crystallized within him as a heart causing him to be resurrected as the guardian of the Eternal Mirror Gate.

Then at the time of my birth, I was cast into the world of reality. Originally, everyone thought my dad did it to protect my life but that didn't quite add up because my dad's forces overpowered the Dream King. My dad didn't do it to protect my life; he did it to protect my "identity". Keep that word in mind friends because without it, this final battle I'm about to wage, will be lost.

Anyway, I conveniently managed to fall on some totally random impoverished man called Wanye. But you will learn also that those who say, there are no such things as coincidences; are very correct indeed. This man though impoverished physically had great riches and strength within. Ayu's mom and dad witnessed it once but only faintly perceived it. And now, I've acquired that strength as well as I begin to fulfil the requirements of the final soul of virtue, Truth.

I attended an Academy called Great Dreamers. A rather coincidental name if you want to see it as such and funnily enough, the name of the city I grew up in was Dream City. A city divided into nine regions; the regions were aligned almost like a nine sided star. There was the Upper East and West Sides Of Dream City; for the rich folks; then Northern Dream City divided these two sides and was the most religious part of the city. There was Central Dream City which housed most of the prestigious educational institutes and industries. Then there were East and West sides of Dream City enclosed by a river; this housed most middle income level families. Lower East and West Sides Dream City housed most of the impoverished and was more of a slum and finally, Southern Dream City; an area I had never really explored. Rumour had it that it was a rather dangerous place so I never trod there, not even a single day in my life.

Great Dreamers Academy was in Central Dream City and was a rather prestigious school considering the fact that my foster gramps was rather impoverished. I really didn't fit there though. I stuck out like a sore thumb. But I might just have been satisfied with that until a girl showed up in my life as…yeah, "the almighty transfer student" that can either change things for you in a good way, or a very bad way. In my case, it was a rather deplorable way.

Me was rather young and naïve then. When I think about it now, I ask myself; "What the baby bloomers was going through my head when I decided to woo that girl?!" Turns out she was a Dream Knight from the Noble House Of Kirisawa; one of the highest orders of Dream Knight. And she was on a mission to find me and show me the quickest way out of this mortal coil. Regardless of what anyone might say, Shining Force rocks; accept that fact already. Anyway, this is where my story began to take kind of a dark turn. Right around the time Ayumi showed up, my foster gramps, Wanye was murdered; and I awakened a power called the "Nightbane" in order to protect her. That was the same sword that nearly slew my dad; ironically. Make no mistake about it, it was the same Ayumi that killed Wanye yet somehow; by some twist of fate, without knowing it, I ended up saving her life instead.

After that moment; when she took Wanye's life and I saved hers. There seemed to be some kind of insane power struggle for our souls. See? I accepted Dream Knighthood without really understanding the true significance of my actions. I inadvertently chose the path my parents would have wished I would avoid; or perhaps my mom. It appears my dad on the other hand had always been scheming a final confrontation between me and…well; let me not get ahead of myself now.

Apparently, at the moment I was cast through the Eternal Mirror Gate; a huge gate that keeps both worlds from colliding; and by that I mean the worlds of dreams and reality; the seven souls of evil bound within the Mirror Gate were released and along with them were the respective stones that once bound them. Each of these evil souls held the power of their respective elemental stones. Seven elements; fire, wind, earth, time, water, lightning and light. These seven souls are the emissaries of an evil incarnation that surfaces every time in history mankind gets too used to peace and discards moral conscience. Their names are Cowardice, Enslavement, Despair, Chaos, Decay, Sloth and finally Ziri, who coordinates them respectively in ascending order of ranking. When Sloth appears in history; it's almost always a sign that a force known as Zanfar is about to be awakened. If I translate Zanfar into English, the name means "Nightmare" but Zanfar is much more than just a Nightmare; his name literally means "The Evil Dream" and when he achieves his ultimate extension; he will become "Zanbӧngfar"; the Deplorable Dream but the difference between Zanfar and any ordinary Nightmare is this; most Nightmares are things humans run from and are afraid of; but Zanfar is the Nightmare every human hopes to Dream. And that is why he must be stopped. Why hasn't humanity progressed past a certain point to a new stage of a so-called evolution? If you've always asked this question; here is my answer; ask the Dark Ages. It's almost as though some force resets us when we are on the right track. That is the nature of Zanbӧngfar.

To stop Zanfar's awakening; Ayumi had to face her fear of relationships. When she did, Cowardice was defeated and we obtained the stone of fire. Next was a friend of mine, Victoria Arthur who had to face her pride and learn to admit it when she was wrong. When she did, Enslavement was defeated; but before Enslavement departed from this world; she left a farewell gift I'd rather never have come to know; the name "Zanfar"; and pointed out the fact that the name Ayzan I'd come to call myself by for so long was just a cover. So now, I had fears to face. Then came Boniface Kenyah's turn; a good friend of mine. He had to face the force called "Despair" but Boniface was a queer character. Unlike Ayumi and Victoria who were possessed by the two evil souls, Cowardice and Enslavement; Boniface resisted Despair thanks to two things. The first was his history and painful past; the second was in his ability to trust others other than himself.

Earlier when I freed Ayu from Cowardice, she lost a good portion of her memories of me. A rather selective kind of amnesia. So selective it was indeed strange. When Despair was defeated, she came to the realization that I was the Dreamweaver and she was the one that killed my gramps but by then; Ayu and I were in love with each other though none of us was willing to admit it. So I tried to hide the fact that I was an incarnation of disaster destined to destroy everything she and everyone else had fought to protect and she had to hide the fact that she was the murderer of my gramps. And this created a spiritual rift of some kind from which the evil souls could operate.

Then came Chaos and boy; that was when things started to get real. Apparently; the hierarchy of spiritual forces isn't so different from that of a human organization. The lower down the food chain you are; the more brutish you are. The more you are made to punch and kick and throw daggers. Basically; it's only lower level demons that would actually engage you in mortal combat. The higher level ones are master coordinators and when you go a little higher; we have experts at manipulating human nature. Chaos didn't engage us in combat until he had given us a trial he was sure we would never overcome. That trial was the "Timelessness Of Love".

Apparently, throughout history, he had heard humans brag about how much we were willing to do for love and how we'd love till Eternity and just a few years later, we're hell bent on taking each other out. The gamble was this; that if I learnt Ayumi's secret, I'd renounce my love and become enraged enough to kill her and become Zanfar; then take out the world. So Chaos did one small thing; he erased Ayumi's sigil, the Pyrogeysers from existence. And because Pyrogeysers didn't exist; time was split in two; a timeline where Ayu had Pyrogeysers, our current reality; and a timeline where she didn't. In the one she didn't, she didn't become a Dream Knight and was despised by her own family because of this. Her kind sister Ai was now a bloodthirsty murderer and yep, she was still "the almighty transfer student" who messes your life up.

But this time, Ai killed Wanye instead and Ayu ran away, leaving me at the mercy of the Dream Knights. Enraged, I swore to become Zanfar and erase everything from existence. However, thanks to the influence of Victoria Arthur and the fact that Ayumi had been severely injured by a hit and run truck driver, I had to postpone my plans to kill her and that gave me enough time to fall for her again. Eventually, we dealt Chaos a fatal blow when the Ayumis of both timelines joined forces and transferred the stamina of Shinsei Ryuennjinn; Ayumi's Pyrogeysers' ultimate form to me. That was enough stamina to fight non-stop for six days but well; Chaos and I were super speeding so it run out real quick. At the end of the battle, Chaos reconciled with me and decided to continue to observe my love for Ayumi since it was something he was unfamiliar with. He promised to aid Ayumi in the real timeline but none of us could imagine what that would mean.

Decay attacked us next. He cornered Ai and Prince as they took a walk towards Shining River. Decay's mode of operation was to confront people with their sins. A person who attempts to justify the wickedness of their sin loses a part of their existence until they altogether fade away or at least; their "identity" is lost forever. I didn't know how much Prince despised himself; and Prince couldn't confront his sins; so he was lost to us. But Ai stood her ground and faced her past. She was also the one that discovered the existence of Zanbӧngfar; she and my dad both, along with Zanfar's true purpose and Zanfar finally upped and decided to make a feature appearance.

Ai was tricked into confessing Ayumi's sin and Ayu confessed as well. I was…well; I was enraged and gave up on anything closely related to human beings; I even desired to become Zanfar but as it turns out; Chaos had already launched a pre-emptive in our favour by cursing Ayumi with the "Chaotic Resonance"; a curse that eats away at a person's spirit by utilizing their negative feelings but did Chaos really act in our favour? At present, it seems so because I was able to cure Ayumi by lending her my mother's crystallized heart within myself formed by the shedding of her tears for my father as he lay dying. But no one can tell what this implies for the future yet because…my mother's tears which had been acting as a seal on Zanfar's nature within me had finally been removed…and it was only a matter of time, before this altogether began to affect my personality.

I forgave Ayumi and helped her recover but to do that, I had to turn her into a Demi-Dreamweaver and then, Sloth confronted us. Sloth is the soul of evil that stands in opposition to the Soul Of Virtue; known as Goodness. Sloth's mode of operation was through indecision and indifference manifested on the surface. Internally; he actually operates by splitting a human against himself; turning a person into his own enemy. Ever felt like you wanted to do something and suddenly reasons start popping up as to why it's not feasible or why it shouldn't be done? If what you want to do is worthwhile and helpful to others, you can be sure that resistance you feel, often very overwhelming is Sloth in operation. Defeating Sloth means uniting your will and focusing it entirely on the achievement of that good work you must do.

And now six out of the seven gems were in the hands of the Dream Knights. My role as a Dream Knight is now about to end; and my role as Zan Nightbane; the Human Dreamweaver is about to commence. A week since the arrival of the New Year is almost past; the Dream Knights have decided they don't need me and will hunt me down. Now is the time to face Zanfar; the symbolism of everything my identity confronts but to prepare for this battle; I cannot be like a tree without roots. My beginning as a human being is rooted in my family's identity and thus it is fitting for me to meet my clan and learn my "Identity" before marching off to this battle between myself; and "the Deplorable Dream".