Nightfall was approaching; the wind pulled uneasily at dead branches of trees and bushes, the creaky strains echoing about. Not a sound could be heard, beside the soft howling of wind and these spooky echoes of the night. Uneasily, the midnight hour crept closer to the time at hand. An odd silence soon drowned out everything; not even the wind could now be heard… This fateful night was the inevitable genesis of the shadow… the shadow that blankets the world, and decimated hope, strength, and freedom among mankind and all races. This shadow of darkness and evil, cast by Hell, is the reign of his might and existence. Hell is a mighty, terrible, and evil creature with God-like powers – Unworldly! That night… That was the night Hell broke loose. Literally.

Not only that, but this was the night of the first game of the Blazeball tournament! The game soon to be played was Zaro Air walkers against the Gantaid Flyers. Blazeball is basically the only contact sport still professionally played. It involves two teams opposing each other head on head in a match. Each team has five players: A goalie, a captain, and three Strikers. The captain of a team and the three strikers are both offensive. At each end of the court is a post. At the top of this ten-foot high post are the goals, and a platform in front of it for the goalie to stand on. The court is concrete, with almost literally no flat space. Each court has its own design, but are all basically the same; many large and small concrete ramps. The offensive players wear protective pads and helmets, and are on skateboards. A ball is tossed up in the middle of the court by the referee in the beginning of the game, and thee two teams skate around, flying through the air and launching off ramps on their boards to get the ball, and then throw it past the opposing team’s goalie, and into the goal. Each goal is worth ten points. Also, at the end of the thirty-minute game, the three judges vote on what player preformed the best stunts. The team of this player will receive twenty points, and the specific player will receive a Silver Star in the records. At the end of each season, the winner of the Super Bowl wins a trophy for the captain, and 1,000 creds (‘Creds’ is short for ‘credits’, which is the money system for the whole planet of Gaia) per player. At the end of each season as well, the number of Silver Stars earned by each player is tallied up. Whoever has the most silver stars receives 1,000 creds, as well as a Gold Star! Gold Stars are one of the greatest achievements any person can accomplish. Gold Stars are awarded to people by the five Yevons of Gaia. The National League of Blazeball (NLB for short) has the permission to award one Gold Star per year to a player. Yevons are the main authority figures of the WUNG (The ‘World United Nations Government’; the government of the five superpowers of the world that is established by law over all of Gaia). Yevons are basically like priests with political powers.

The captain of the Zaro Air walkers is a blonde, teenaged boy named Zierdane; He is one of the youngest professional players of all time! Anyway, Zierdane and the rest of the players on the Air walkers (Chakuu, a striker; Rachel, a striker; Derek, a striker; and Gavin the goalie) were in their locker room getting ready for the game. It was a game on their turf: the home stadium of the Zaro Air walkers. Every single seat was filled in the stands for this game! The buzzer sounded, and the announcer came on the air over the surround sound giant speakers on posts surrounding the stadium. “Geeeeet ready folks, because the game is about to begin! Zaro Air walkers, and Gantaid Flyers, take your positions on the court!” the announcer called. The fans cheered and whooped with joy and anticipation as the two teams walked out onto the court from their lockers, pads and helmets on, and boards in hand. Zierdane leaped into the air, pulled his legs up and got on his board in midair, and came down toward a yellow metal rail. He landed on it with the part of his front axel just next to the right wheel. His board went crooked and he shifted his weight and bent his knees to stay balanced as he slid along the curved rail. When he came to the end of the rail he pushed hard on the tail of the board and then lightly lifted it, popping it up a bit as he slid his front foot forward all the way to the nose, while shifting his stance and sucking in to gain more airtime. He slid his back foot swiftly off the board to the right and down, lifting his other foot up and then quickly raising his right foot back up as the board spun around twice. He landed on the board and bent his knees to absorb the impact. He landed back on the concrete and turned left, heading back to rejoin his teammates. Most of the crowd exploded with cries and hollers as he cleanly finished this move off. The captain of the Gantaid Flyers rolled his eyes and snorted. It was the first year playing in the professional league for Blazeball for both Zierdane and Jason (captain of the Gantaid Flyers), and both were highly skilled. Ever since his childhood, Zierdane loved Blazeball. He first saw it on T.V. in his orphanage when he was five, and ever since then has loved it. He used to play it on mini skateboards with his friends at the orphanage with a football on the basketball court. It had no ramps, but served good for players of that age. At his school in gym they played it occasionally, and he always dominated the scoreboard. Zierdane was sixteen at the time of the current tournament.

The referee walked into the middle of the court, tossed up the ball, and blew his whistle. Immediately Zierdane leapt into action. However, he flew to the left rather than forward toward the ball. The captain of the other team flew upward toward the ball, as Zierdane landed on another yellow metal grinding rail, and slid around the full half circle rail. He powered to his right from there and ollied up toward Jason from the side just as he was grabbing the ball. As Jason began to come down, Zierdane flew into his side. Jason flew to the left from the tackle, the ball floating freely to the ground. Zierdane caught the ball as Jason regained his balance in the air. Jason landed at the top of a ramp, and leaned forward as he went down to gain speed. Zierdane powered ahead with Jason close behind, the other four strikers of the two teams trying to keep up. Zierdane launched up a small three-foot quarter pipe, and leaned slightly, grabbing the nose of the board with his right hand while tucking the blazeball to his chest with his left. He spun slowly around a full turn clockwise as he soared forward. He landed on another ramp facing sideways to the one he came from, and pivoted down it. He ollied sharply to the left and up onto a short, straight yellow rail that merged into the metal pipe at the top of one of the halves of a halfpipe. He slid along it on both trucks, then ollied up while still on the rail, turning his legs a quarter turn so he landed sideways. He slid across the rail now on the bottom of his board in a grind called a boardslide (aptly named). Jason tailed him, riding fast beside the rail. Zierdane cut sharply left down the halfpipe in front of Jason, and then went up the slope on the opposite side. Jason whirled around and pushed back toward him as he launched up and sideways to the right, landing on the concrete behind Jason. He pushed forward as Jason turned around again, but was to late. Zierdane powered left then cut back sharply, launching up a kicker ramp, flying parallel to the goal of the Flyers. He threw the ball as fast as he can, landing a perfect spiral. The ball rocketed just out of reach of the diving Flyer goalie. The scoreboard rang up:

Home: 10
Visitors: 0

In bright yellow text as the crowd roared with approval, drowning out the cursing of Jason and the other Flyers. The goalie retrieved the ball from the net, and tossed it in to Jason. Jason was skating the ball down the court, when all of a sudden a gigantic, red-orange-yellow-black beam of fire blasted through the stadium and into the arena in which the tournament was being played! Light blasted out everywhere, and flames devoured everything. Fire licked the air, and a large white dome of energy erupted violently outward from the explosion. Everything left turned to black statues, and then crumbled into tiny pieces, scattered about by the wind. Zierdane was pulled upward by a fierce upwelling of wind that was forming into an invisible tornado. “AHHH!” He yelled in panic, and the entire sky darkened to a deep blood red, and the terrain to brown and black hues. Hovering in the air not far off was a gigantic bubble of energy. The energy was of blues and greens mainly. Inside it was an odd form of some sort. This form was many times the size of the whole stadium. The figure turned black as the bubble turned white and a bright white blocked out everything else in a white blanket. Zierdane lost his consciousness then; the last thing he remembered was feeling a tingling run about his body, and then a strong vacuum, as if he was being sucked into something…

SOME TIME LATER…

Zierdane awoke, but could see nothing. He lay there still for a few moments, still feeling the tingling sensation. He had an immense headache! Suddenly he realized that the tingling sensation was sand rubbing against his skin. He slowly got up, his vision blurred, to make out the scenery of a beach around him. He was ankle-deep in cold, refreshing water. He walked out into knee-deep water, and stooped down so that the coming small wave would wash all the sand off of his body. Once the wave had done so, he got up and looked around. Up past the sand was grass and some bushes, and some tall cliffs cleanly reaching high up… at least fifty feet. He walked up the beach and fell down. He began to remember what had happened. None of it made any sense whatsoever. He looked around, in search of anything that might be of use. After a couple of minutes he lost consciousness again.

Once Zierdane awakened again, he found himself in a small, one-person bed, with a cold, wet cloth on his forehead. The bed he was in was against the wall. On the other side of the bed sat a teenaged boy, a few years older then Zierdane, and with green hair. He wore no shirt, a yellow wristband, and yellow pants. “Hey, I think that he’s coming to!” The boy said. Next to him, standing up was a girl who looked about the same age as the boy sitting down. The girl had long black hair, a gray top, and long black pants. “Yes, I see…” she responded. “Where… where am I?” Zierdane asked. “You are in the town of Zetchu, man. Lady Garnett found you passed out on the beach, and took you here. This is my house. My name is Maro, and this is my girlfriend, Jenn.” Jenn, the girl in the gray and black, smiled and said, “We were beginning to wonder if you were going to make it, you have been blacked out for about three days now!” Zierdane sat up, and asked while rubbing his aching head, “Who is Lady Garnett?” Maro laughed, and answered him. “Garnett is a young summoner who lives in this village. She plans to set out on her Quest of Fate soon, and we will both be serving as her guardians. You should get some rest… or wait? Perhaps three days is enough?” Maro and Jenn laughed, and Zierdane smiled. “What’s… a summoner?” He asked. Maro and Jenn looked at him like he was crazy. “Are you kidding us? You don’t know what a summoner is?” Maro asked of him. Zierdane shook his head.

“A summoner is a rare and special person, who has the ability to pray to great entities. These entities are known as sareons; they are legendary beasts that supposedly come from the High Realm. When they hear the prayers of a summoner, they come down to that summoner and guard them. If a sareon dies, then its spirit begins its journey back up to the High Realm. Once it returns, it can be summoned again… but not until it returns to the High Realm as a spirit. If a sareon is summoned and then is dismissed, it returns to the High Realm much faster; it’s believed that it actually returns within mere seconds! A summoner can only know how to direct his or her prayers directly to the right sareon if he or she has prayed directly from the jewel of that sareon before. Sareon jewels can only be found in sacred temples… Almost every town has a temple, but not all temples contain sareon jewels. There is one sareon, known as the Final Sareon, who supposedly contains ultimate powers. It is believed that this sareon alone has the powers needed to defeat Hell… because of this, summoners go on what is called a Quest of Fate; which means they embark on a journey to pray to every sareon. The only way to be able to pray to the Final Sareon is if that summoner has prayed to all the others. Sareons grow in power and strength, just as a summoner or his or her guardians might… … … Any of this ringing a bell? Man, you must have been hit pretty hard! First you’re knocked out for three days, and now you can’t remember a thing!” Maro added as Zierdane shook his head. “Uh… What is Hell? Well, I mean; I know what Hell is, but you said it as if it was a person!” Maro shook his head in disbelief, as Jenn laughed. “You have got to be kidding me!” Zierdane continued asking questions. “And where is Lady Garnett now? And how far is this town from Zaro?” Maro laughed and said, “First of all, Zaro has not existed for 5,000 years. Hell is the demonic beast that destroyed it, as well as basically every other town on Gaia… and Garnett is currently attempting to pray to the first sareon on her quest; the one in the temple here, in Zetchu. We leave on the Quest of Fate tomorrow morning.” Zierdane got up from his bed. “What do you mean Zaro was destroyed 5,000 years ago?! I was just there!!” He yelled. “Whoa, whoa… calm down! Your head injury must be worse than we thought… unless…” Jenn started, and looked at Maro in disbelief. “There is a prophecy,” Maro began. “It is a teaching of the High One, from the Bible. It states that when Hell first unleashed his reign, he tried to kill a person, but instead sent him forward into time. The prophecy says that this person is to help one day defeat Hell, by being the guardian of the Summoner Of Fate. The Summoner of Fate is the summoner who succeeds in praying to all sareons, and defeats Hell with the Final Sareon. Many before us have gone on a Quest of Fate, but none have ever succeeded! But I know that Garnett and us will. If you are truly the one that Hell sent forward in time, to here… then that means that you are from 5,000 years in the past! That explains why you don’t know anything (uh… no offense) and why you washed up on the beach! If you are truly the Guardian of Fate, then you must accompany us as a guardian of Garnett. … … … either that or you simply did get knocked out, and we are overreacting for nothing!” Maro and Jenn laughed, but as they saw Zierdane confused and deep in thought, they began to wonder if it was possible. “I want to meet with Garnett. You said that she saved my life, right? She found me? For that reason, I wish to meet her and thank her.” Maro smiled and nodded. “No prob, uh… what’s your name?” Zierdane responded, “My name is Zierdane.”

Zierdane, Jenn, and Maro walked out of Maro’s hut, and began walking in the direction of the temple. There were many similar huts on the way there. Everything looked so primitive to Zierdane, since where (and when) he had come from, technology was everywhere you looked! They reached a broad, grand set of marble white stairs leading up to a concrete road. They walked up those steps, and then came to another, smaller set of steps. These steps lead to a large concrete square with eight blue and gold pillars around the edges, and a pavilion over top. The temple stood before them, tall and grand, with two gigantic red and gold double doors, made of real rubies and gold, with tiny sapphires in them in certain places. The doors were wide open, welcoming them in. Many villagers were walking in and out. “As you may not know or may not remember… either way it may be… religion is the main part of life nowadays. Almost everyone on Gaia believes in the High One, and listens to the preaching of the Yevons,” Maro said, as they walked into the temple. At the word ‘Yevons’ Zierdane jumped, and said, “Yevons?! A-Ha! Something I remember! The five Yevons of Gaia from the WUNG!” Jenn shook her head, and said, “Well… no. The WUNG was overthrown by Hell 5,000 years ago. However, Yevons are still in existence. The five Yevons of Gaia are high priests, who preach the word of the High One. Two of the five Yevons are summoners.” Zierdane could not believe what he was hearing. “But… how can the world possibly operate without the WUNG?!” Maro explained, “Well, every town basically has its own laws, set by the high priest and priests of the temple.” Zierdane grew silent. He wasn’t sure whether to believe them or not. Perhaps he was dreaming, he thought. But whatever was happening, he wanted to thank Garnett for what she had done. As they walked to the center of the large, circular temple, Zierdane looked around to notice many people bowing down before statues of the Yevons, and pedestals holding copies of the bible. At the far end of the temple was a staircase leading upward to a door in the wall. “That staircase leads to the ‘room of the sareon’ only temple personnel, summoners, and guardians are permitted to enter,” Jenn explained, seeing where he was looking. “Garnett is in there,” Maro said. Just then, a beautiful sixteen year old girl in a white top, and a blue skirt that stretched down to the floor with short brown hair and blue eyes walked out of the door atop the stairs. She held a golden summoner’s staff in her left hand. “That is Lady Garnett,” Jenn told Zierdane. Garnett rushed down the stairs to them. “I have done it!” She said. “I have prayed thoroughly to Blazeque. I believe I will now be able to summon… him… It’s you! The boy from the beach! Are you feeling Okay?!” Jenn said, “Zierdane here is fine. He woke up just earlier.”

“I want to thank you sincerely for saving me,” Zierdane said, bowing to her, his hands together as if in prayer. He arose to see her performing the same bow. It was the common greeting on Gaia in those times. Zierdane had not known it… he had just been lucky. “It was nothing, really. I could not have left anyone just to die!” She said happily. Jenn walked over to her and whispered something quickly into her ear. Garnett looked shocked. “I… I must ask you something. Do you have any experience in battle against beasts?” Zierdane scratched the back of his head and cocked it to one side. “Nowadays, beasts roam freely throughout the land, terrorizing people under the reign of Hell,” Maro explained. “Well… not really. Why?” Zierdane responded. “I wish for you to be my guardian. Do you accept?” Zierdane thought, considering that she had saved his life, and how much he hated Hell for what he had done to his city, and to him… “I do. I wish to repay you for your kindness to me on the beach, and I do believe I will stop at nothing to defeat Hell.”

“Jenn tells me that… you might be the Guardian of Fate! Is this true?” Garnett asked. “I do not know. The last thing I remember is playing Blazeball in the tournament, and then suddenly Hell attacked… and then I wake up here.” Maro leaped with enthusiasm toward him. “You were a professional Blazeball player?! Awesome! You have got to teach me some stuff some time!” Zierdane nodded to him. “Sure thing!” he said. “Well. I believe that this is enough formality. We will all four leave tomorrow morning on the Quest of Fate. Garnett, why don’t you attempt to summon Blazeque outside?” Jenn asked. Garnett let out a high-pitched squeal of delight, jumped with joy, and grabbed them all by the arms, running to the door and pulling them all along. “Ah!” Zierdane yelled. “Calm down! We know how to walk!” Maro laughed. “Sorry… I guess I’m… overly excited! So? Let’s go!” She let go of them, and they all ran outside. Zierdane was anxious to see what a sareon was.

Once outside, back by Maro’s hut, Maro, Jenn, and Zierdane stopped as Garnett stepped forward. He closed her eyes and held her staff sideways. She concentrated for a brief moment, mentally saying the prayer engraved in the ‘room of the sareon’. He spun around on one foot while spreading her arms and raising her staff high into the air! The end of the staff gleamed with a bright light. She brought the staff down, hitting the bottom of it into the ground. A flame burst to life where the staff was on the ground, and spread in four directions, leaving an ‘X’ of fire. The fire spread in two directions from each end there, curving, the flames eventually connecting. The ‘X’ was now enclosed in a ring. The flames turned into rays of orange light that speared upward, and then disappeared. Garnett began hovering upward, her eyes still closed. She opened her eyes as she slowly flew upward. Where the fire had been was now a hole that went down into the ground farther than anyone could see! From it flames erupted, and out flew the sareon!

Next: Chapter II
Content: The first sareon arises before Zierdane, Maro, Jenn and Garnet; and, they begin their quest...