The Tale of the Phantom

[Aqua]

Hello. My name is Lareo. And I will be telling you my story. From human, to demon, to my return to human. I will try not to bore you to much, so I will only tell what I think is important. I suppose I may as well start from my beginning.

Part one: The Life Before

My life started out like any other. Born from two parents. Though they didn't want me. Which was more uncommon in that time, then it is now. I was an orphan, raised in a home along with other children like myself. I had that life for 12 years. Being alone. That changed when a group of evil beings came to the home. Led by a twilight demon. They said they were sent here by their leader to claim the life of someone. His master had a form of psychic powers, and he foresaw a future threat to him living here. So he asked the owner to let them come to find who they were sent for, and little would suffer that day. The owner refused, and said that she thought of these kids as her own. She thought she could take them, since she was a nature human. But it did not work out that way, and she was killed in a short battle. Angered by this, the twilight demon ordered the place be burned down. This way they wouldn't need to kill the children, one by one. After all, he didn't care for life. I saw him say, "Well they are all alone in this world now. Why not end their lives? They have no one, so why not send them to be with their caretaker?" He spoke with no care in his voice at all. Some of the men he brought with him looked like they didn't agree. But who were they to say no? They set the place a flame in moments. I heard the voices of others screaming around me. And for some, it was already to late. I was able to break a window, allowing some to flee the burning building with me. Though the men and the demon didn't stay to see if the job was finished. And a good thing it was too. Because their target lived through the flames.

But how right the demon was. We had less then before. Most of the survivors became beggars in the near by town, but some of their stories took a better turn later in live. Myself? I wanted something more then that. I wanted to make sure that kind of thing never happened again. So that no one that didn't deserve to die, died like what happened that day. Course I was nothing more then a twelve year old boy. What could I really hope to do? I had thought about that for a while. I knew if I wanted any chance to do anything, I'd need a weapon. Course I didn't have money to by such things. I had nothing to do, but hope I find some luck in the near by town. But I needed a place to spend the night. Since it looked like it would rain later that night, I had headed to a near by ruined temple. The towns ruins, and mine. It used to be built into a mine that was used for ore and such. When the temple finally saw better days, it was being used as a mine again. The ruined mines, it was called. I had spent the night there, and headed into the town the next day. I needed a weapon. More then that. I needed many things if I was going to travel. And for that I needed money. Once I met the blacksmith of town, he made a deal with me. If I would mine for him, he would pay me for it. Being the busy man he was, he often needed more ore, but had little time to get it himself. And that's what I did for a number of weeks. One day I came across a rare ore called Mythril. Its sky blue and purple color made it easy to make out what it was. And I heard how good of weapons they make. So every time I found some, I kept it for myself. After many more weeks, I had a good share of money, and a good share of Mythril. Once I had enough Mythril, as well all the other ore I needed. I had the blacksmith use all the ore I kept to make me a sword. He was in shock when he saw all the Mythril, and offered to by it all for a very high price. But I told him, "No. I need this for a weapon. A weapon that will be used to help, and to save people. A mighty weapon." He understood, and respected my choice, if just a little disappointed. But then he said, "Very well. Then I shall make you your mighty weapon. And it will be the best weapon I've ever crafted." It took many days. But soon, my weapon was finished. It was the most beautiful sword I had ever seen. A blade made of the Mythril, and its color was a lovely blue, purple, and pink. Its hilt was made of fine gold, and it shined brightly with its gold color. The handle and the rest of the sword was made out of both silver and copper, and it was also quite lovely. He had also made a sheath for it as a gift. It was in the same colors as the blade. I thanked him for the sword, and everything else he had done for me. After that, all I had to do was buy everything else I'd need to have to travel.

It had been almost a year since I came to that town, before I was finally able to put that place behind me, and get on the road. But thinking back, where was I even heading? There was no war going on. I didn't know who I was even looking for. But then I didn't have anything to leave behind, so I had nothing to lose going. I stopped at many towns on my travels, but I never found any useful information. And it would be a long time before I did. On my travels, I came across many ruins and mines. The mines proved a good source of money for my travels, since I knew how to find ores and gems. On one trip to a ruined temple, I found something that I would be using for the rest of my life. A powerful item was stashed away in the temple many years ago. In its time it was very powerful. At the heart of the temple, the treasure was guarded by a monster called a Robo Golem. A monster that was half robot, half rock monster. I fought with the monster, and came out the victor. The monster found my heart to be true, and thought I could be trusted with the relic item. It opened a hidden chamber of the temple, and a gold and blue treasure chest was in the room. I opened it, and took out a magnificent shield. Blue, with a polished mirror on it. The magic mirror could reflect attacks, or store their power for the users own use. And with the Mythril sword, they made a great pair. I went on my way after that.

Many months passed, before anything else important happened in my life. The day I met the first member of my future team. I had been exploring an old, but still intact, ruined temple in the middle of an open desert. I met a beautiful young lady. Long black hair, red eyes. I found the eyes an odd color at first, but I had silver hair, so I'm sure I came across weird as well. Her name was Mary. The lady I later fell in love with. Later I came to find out that she was a time demon. After I met her, she introduced me to her friends. The Lunar demon Raylo, and the cat demon Ruleta. I found it odd being friends with a bunch of demons, but they aren't as evil as people make them out to be. A month or two after that fateful meeting, came an awful thing. Zalendor the Conqueror, as he was known as back then, had gotten ultimate power from the Golden force. And with this power, chaos began. Entire cities and towns, destroyed. Armies toppled. Hero's vanquished. Zalendor had pretty much taken over everything. And nothing stood in his way. During this time of control, myself and the three demons I had met, had met four other humans against Zalendor. Raven the dark human, and his step brother Magneus the light human. Nightshade the shadow wielder. And Eric, a human dressed in green. A well known swordsmen, and adventurer. We all wanted to end Zalendor's control, but had no idea how do something of this level. Though Eric, being the well known adventurer he was, had heard of a powerful sword that had the power to kill great evil. Back in this time, this kind of thing actually happened. Magical swords and stuff. Now a days? Not so much. With Eric's knowledge, we tracked down the sword called the Grand Blade.

With this sword, we stormed the castle that controlled the entire world. A great battle began that day at the castle. His power was strong, but the sword kept the playing field even. As he grew weak, he used the power of his three twilight shards, along with his dark power, to transform himself. He became the beastly form of his power.....The form of the dark force. After a very long, and hard fought battle, we were the ones that won. Though Zalendor vowed that he would return through the one who would receive his power, named him E Link, and soon died. And slowly peace returned to the world. We hid the twilight shards across the world, to keep evil from getting them. We were looked at as hero's. And rightly so. We saved the world from its dark master. Things returned to normal after a while. And to make sure we always knew where the powerful evil slaying weapon was, we made a copy called the Solar Sword. We and the sages helped craft it to have the same powers as the Grand Blade. But we needed a safe place to keep it. I decided that we should rebuild the temple I first met Mary at. We did so, and it has been the swords resting place for many years. And since the battle, we handled other world threatening problems as a powerful team. Some other friends of ours, who were not in our big battle against Zalendor, were apart of our team. One was the lovely water human Sapphra. She looked a lot like Aqua actually. Not just in her eyes and hair, but....Well never mind. Another was Ravens sister Shadla. Dark black hair, and blue eyes. So much like her brother in every way. Really. Both being dark humans, they were both pretty emotionless most of the time. Still they were both good friends. Also during this war, we became allies with Zalendor's biggest mistake. The Chaos darken Hydra. He was much like Giga, but he liked his human form better. He looked like a modern day biker, almost anyway in human form. He gave us very useful information. He informed us when the best time to attack was. Course when he was discovered helping us, the twilight demon Twilore was sent to kill him. We don't know what became of him. Mary and Nightshade had both been with Sapphra and Shadla during our final battle with Zalendor. They were stopping a darken army led by Twilore. Sometime after that battle with Zalendor, I learned that Twilore was the twilight demon from those few years ago that burned down the orphan home. Though Twilore had fled with a few remaining darkens, his threat was little to none at the time. So we made no moves to track him down. Peace was here. But looking back, had we hunted him down, many things could of been better for us all later on. And for many years we kept the peace in the world.

I had actually grown quite close to Mary over the years, after our win over Zalendor. We were both in love with each other. At first she didn't want to like me that way, because being a demon, she would out live me. But over time we both got over that bump in the road, and things were great for us. Heck, I even planed to marry her once I was older. Though fate wouldn't work that way. When I was around 20, I don't remember my precise age back then. Its been to long. We had a problem a few towns away from where we lived. It was just small time, and only maybe two of us needed to go. But Mary wanted more of us to go, just in case. So the team for that problem was myself, Ruleta, Raylo, Raven, and Magneus. And we handled the threat with no problems. But on the return trip home was where the trouble started. Though I'm getting a little ahead of myself. A couple of weeks before that, Raylo and Ruleta had achieved a great thing. Thanks to a good tip they both had tracked down Twilore, and the remaining darken army. They called for backup, but it wouldn't arrive for a while. Before the battle came close to the end. They made short work of the darkens, but the real challenge was Twilore himself. At a point of the battle, Twilore was able to hit both of them in their heads with twilight shards. They had no clue what this would do to them soon enough. Twilore was in a tight spot, and when the rest of us arrived, he was finished. We captured him, and took him to a place called the temple of twilight. There we sealed him up, never to walk the earth again. But his shards went unnoticed, and they took effect near that mission I was speaking of earlier. When we were heading home, they snapped, and attacked me. They said I was gonna get what I had coming to me for a long time. We fought, and Raven and Magneus tried to help me. But Raylo and Ruleta overpowered them both. When I was nearly finished, they decided they didn't hate me enough to kill me. So Raylo changed me into a demon. Turned out I became a phantom demon. Then they wiped my mind of my memory's, then dumped me in a portal to the phantom demon realm. They told the light and dark humans that if they ever spoke of this event, they would finish what they started on them. When they returned, Mary was terrified that I didn't return. Raylo and Ruleta told her that I died in the battle. She was heartbroken to hear what happened to me. She became very unhappy, and was like that for years.

One day, a few years from the day my human life died, Mary was talking to the light and dark human step brothers. She was saying how she should of went with me on that mission. To make sure nothing happened to me. By now, the guilt was eating away the two. It eating them both away for years. Finally Raven couldn't take seeing Mary like this anymore, and no longer cared about Raylo and Ruletas threats. He and his brother told her everything. At first she couldn't believe it. But then she realized that they never acted the same after that mission. But she thought it was the shock of my death. Now her sadness was replaced with rage. She told the others about this, and they all confronted Raylo and Ruleta. They both wanted to end Raven and Magneus on the spot. But they had everyone else on their sides. The pair of demons were not fools. They asked, "What do you want from us then? We cant bring him back." "We don't want anything of you. We want you gone. Out of our lives!" Mary demanded. "You have both done enough. You've taken the life of a dear friend of ours. And you don't even have a reason for it. You are no longer welcome with us. We never wish to see any of you ever again...." Raven said. Everyone agreed with him. "Fine, we will leave. But you all are making a huge mistake. You all need our power." Raylo said. "We will find a way to manage. But we cant have traitors among us. Leave." Nightshade said. Raylo and Ruleta didn't say another word. What was done was done. It couldn't be fixed. But at least they had the truth now. Mary was still saddened. But now she truly knew why. The gang felt like they lost three, rather then one. But it was what had to be done. What was right. And they kept on going on with their lives as world savers. Raylo and Ruleta, corrupted or not, were still good. They still saved lives. They still stopped evil, and even had to team up with the old gang once or twice. But they were now alone. They only had each other. And as for me? The next big chapter of my life began....

[Aqua]

Part Two: The Demon Life

After that day, the next thing I remember was waking up in some sort of field. The ground and grass were dark colored. The dirt gray, the grass black. I fought to my feet, feeling very weak. I walked only a few feet, before the pain caused me to blackout once again. The next I remembered was waking up in a bed. "Ugh....What happened....." I said. Then a person that looked like a skeleton set aflame in blue flames in a suit of armor. "Ah! Ze stranger is avake. Sir Vane, come quickly." The stranger said. "Huh?....What?....What's going on?" I asked. "Ve found you passed out in ze fields sir." The skeleton said. Then a phantom demon walked in. Gray fur, webbed wings like a dragons, and silver eyes. His horns were bent inward, which is uncommon for phantom demons. "Yes. You were in a bad way young man. You looked as if you were beaten down really hard. What happened to you?" He asked me. I closed my eyes for a few moments. "I....don't remember.....I don't remember anything...." I said. "Hmm...You must have amnesia. Maybe you hit your head hard in your scrap. You must of been some kind of warrior or something. We found this sword and shield with you." The demon said, pointing to my sword and shield on a table. "Who are you two?" I asked. "I am Vain. Phantom demon, greater ranked. And this is my friend Grandor. Also a greater ranked Phantom demon. But he likes the form he has. Do you know your own name?" Vain asked me. I looked on the table, and took my sword. I took it out of the sheath, looking for a name on something of mine. I saw the name Runic imprinted on the blade. That was a nickname I had earned over the years, due to how long I mined in the old ruins for the blacksmith. "I....think its Runic." I answered. "Ah, I see. Very good then. Nice to meet you Runic." Vain said, reaching out his hand. I shook it. Then I wondered for a moment. "Wait....What I'm I?" I asked. Vain looked at me for a moment. "Well judging by your appearance, you look to be a phantom demon. A lesser ranked one at that. But your appearance is odd for a phantom demon. Your wings look as if you've never flown before. Yet they have holes in them. And one of your horns is broken. And your clothes. While white fits a phantom demon, the style is more what a human would wear." He paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, demons don't normally use a sword and shield. A pitchfork for a weapon, maybe. But I guess their are all kinds." Vain said. "So I'm a phantom demon....What does that mean?" I asked. "Zit means you have powers over ze shadows and spirits. As vell as much more." Grandor said. "Could you both teach me how to use my powers? I seem to have forgotten how." I asked. "Hmm....I like you kid. Not sure why though. Why not? Of course we'll teach you. Course we still have much to learn ourselves." Vain answered.

And from that day on, I lived with them. Since I had no home, and no memory, I had no where else to go. My life as a demon was centered around two things. Trying to find something about my past, and becoming more and more powerful. I trained and trained everyday, for years on end. Soon enough, I passed Vane and Grandor in terms of power. Becoming Chaos rank in somewhere between sixty to seventy years. Vane and Grandor soon followed in my steps, but as they ranked, they changed. I never did. Though the years, we went to many places in the Phantom demon realm. Trying to find clues to my past. The coal black mountain ranges of the southern half of the realm. The islands in the clear red colored seas. The many wonderful cities of the northern realm. The light blue deserts of the northwestern parts of the realm. You name any place in the phantom demon realm, we went to it. Never found anything. Though one day, in the capital city of the realm, a traveler was visiting the place when we were. I saw him, and was grabbed by an unexplainable rage. I attacked him on the spot. But Vane and Grandor stopped me before a nasty fight broke out. After that day, we all learned I had a deep hatred for Lunar demons, and Cat demons. We all wondered what that meant, but we never got much further on that till years later.

When I neared eighty years of living in the realm, the realm's king passed away. And how a new king is chosen is the most powerful chaos ranked demon became the next king. And it turned out to be me. My aura spiked, I grew a foot taller, and my power was greatly magnified. I had to go to the palace, since I was now king. Many people expected the kings son, Prince Spearen to be king. He was known well as a mighty warrior in the kingdom. Everyone was shocked to find that he would not be king. And by the prince, I was not welcomed. When I arrived at the palace, I spoke with the guards to gain entry. But I was also met by the prince. He attacked me, enraged by the fact that he wasn't the next king. I stopped him in one move, but not killing him. The royal guards wanted me to come into the castle. They had an adviser they wanted me to meet. I told them I'd come, but I wanted Vain and Grandor to come with me. They allowed this, and the three of us entered the palace.

The royal adviser spoke to me for what seemed like forever. He had to teach me how to be king. It wasn't as easy as being a king sounds. Plus, I never even thought I'd be king. I was taught over many weeks on how to be a king. I had Vain be my commander of the army of the realm, and Grandor wanted to learn how to be a royal adviser, and became my adviser in a few years time. Even though he attacked me, I had Spearen put on the royal guard staff. He was a good warrior, so I wanted him on staff. In the long run, that could of been a big mistake. At the time though, no harm came from it.

After being king for about ten years, I was payed a visit by a pale man in a black and dark red suit with an eye on it. Black smoke came off his body. He tried to gain entry, but the guards wouldn't let him enter. So he forced his way in. Many guards were in the throne room, along with Vain and Grandor. "Who are you, and why have you forced your way into my palace?" I yelled at him. "Your majesty, I have dire news. Please hear me out." He spoke in a calm voice. "You have two minutes. State your reason for being here. "Your highness, I was sent here to tell you of word that the Lunar demon race and Cat demon race both plan to attack your realm." He said. "Vwhat?! For vwhat reason would da Lunar and Cat demon races attack our realm?" Grandor asked. "I heard talk that the Lunar king fears your race is growing to powerful, and wishes to align with the Cat demon race to wipe out the realm. They find your kind to much of a threat to their rank of power." He answered. "As I long suspected. I never liked their kinds, and now I know why! They have been among us before. They must have been keeping their eyes on our realm." I said. "It is not my place to say your highness, but I would think you should attack them first. They are merely kicking around the idea of when to attack. You have a large amount of time to ready yourselves." He said again. "How do you know so much about the other races? How could you get such information?" Vain questioned. "The one who sent me has many ways of learning what he wants to know. Let us leave it at that." He answered. "It matters not to me where he got his information. As long as its true. This man here has given us a forewarning for a coming war. And for that, I am most grateful stranger. Is there anything I can do for you or your sender?" I asked. "No your highness. My sender only wishes that the right side wins. He does not wish your kind killed off for no reason. You keeping things in order with the world is enough for us." The stranger answered, then turned to leave. I nodded. "Very well stranger. May I ask for your name, sir?" I asked. He looked back. "You may call me Will. Good day your majesty." Then he left. This time with no fighting as he walked down the main hall to the entrance.

From that day onward, we prepared for war. I inspired the people of the realm into joining the cause. The cause to defend ourselves from the realms that threaten to wipe us out. A great multitude readied themselves for war. But in every war, there is always a traitor. One who had inside information had informed the Lunar and Cat demon races of our attack. That traitor turned out to be Spearen, the ex-phantom demon prince. When our realm attacked the Lunar realm, they were already waiting for us. We were forced back into our realm by the Lunar and Cat demons, and were slowly torn apart. A shame the ex prince was so angry, that he betrayed his whole realm. When the hour was bleakest in the realm, and myself and the top chaos demons were about to fall, I enacted a plan. I was fighting the Cat demon ruler, and Lunar demon king, in a battle in my throne room. Once I had a free chance, I activated a device that caused myself and my top chaos demons to revert to our orb forms. We were teleported to earth, to avoid death in the battle. We could only return to normal if someone touch our orb to possess them, or if a phantom demon turned us to normal. I left Vain out of this orb tactic, so he could restore the orbs. But he had trouble finding them. He had to keep order in my troubled realm, so he couldn't find us. He just hoped that we could possess someone.

I landed on a mountain in my orb form. Sadly I blended in. I went undiscovered for years. Until I met the war lord, Zane. He was dressed in black armor, a red hood, and a red eye symbol on the armor. Normally he wore a helmet instead of a hood though. He made a deal with me. If I would help him take over earth, then he would find me a fitting body. Odd how I couldn't possess him though. But I took his deal. I didn't care about earth at all. So I didn't care if someone else ruled it or not. It wasn't my business. And through a clever trap, he earned me the body of the powerful E Link Nightngale. But without my memory, I had no idea this was the holder of the dark force. Regardless, with his body, I helped Zane with his plans. He constructed a mighty tower, and was going to use it to summon forth his mighty monster from another realm. Though E Link's brother was dead set on getting E Link back. He snuck into the heavily guarded tower, and fought his way to the top. He and I battled, and he freed E Link from me. But I was granted a copied body of E Link's. Faded, but usable. Me and Zane tried to team up to destroy them both, but I was dragged to the temple of light by E Link's brother. There I was imprisoned by the Grand Blade. I didn't get free for about five hundred years. The war was soon ended with the vanishing of Zane, and the death of his monster. During the war, I had saved the life of an insect human named Zuika. Knowing their code of life, I knew he would serve me. This became useful later on in life. But not until the time I would be free drew near....

[Aqua]

Part Three: The Life of the Ruin Master

Most of my life after being sealed in the temple of light seemed very slow. I couldn't go very far from the temple grounds, only able to go less then a fourth of a mile outside the temple. And for the longest time, I had to answer to the sage of light. Little did I know the light sage was actually my old friend Magneus. Though at some point he found out who I was. Probably by my name, and my sword. Funny. Even I didn't know, but he figured it out. But me gaining control of the sages was hard work. I was there about 350 years before I finally made some progress. I finally asserted my greater power over the light sage at some point, and took control of the whole temple without a battle at all. He must of known my power when he saw it. Though it wasn't much of a temple anymore. It was lowered to ruins on a island in the sea over time. My alliance with Zuika the insect human proved very useful. Being a phantom demon king, my shadow powers were great. I had crafted a body made of shadow, but without a soul. I controlled it by means of something like mind control. When I controlled it with my mind, it gained most of my powers. Along with Zuika, this shadow body took control of other sages and their temples or ruins. Though that was mostly just the water temple sage, and the fire ruins sage. I couldn't keep a hold on the sage of darkness, AKA Raven the dark human. The other sages, I couldn't track down. But it didn't matter at the time. From that point of my life, I was known as Runic the Ruins Master. On one of Vain's visits to earth, he picked up my aura and met with me. He informed me of the state of affairs in the phantom demon realm. Seemed mostly chaotic most of the time. But Vain kept things in a stable order. He learned he couldn't return with me, due to my sealed curse. But I told him I would return once I was free.

My main goal with controlling the sages was because they were the most powerful powered humans I could get a hold of. I needed them to find the Grand Blade for me. I thought the light sage knew, but E Link's brother had hidden it long ago. Not even the light sage knew where it lay now. Many restless nights were spent in the ruins, even after I had control. The shame of defeat in my kingdom, and being lowered to trapped in a copied body, sealed in the ruins. I swore when I was free, that my realm would be the greatest race of beings that ever lived. The days grew closer to my freedom. About 50 or so years from my freedom, I began to have visions. Using my powers, I was able to foresee my coming enemies. But of the demons and powered humans I saw, a normal human appeared in these visions the most. A human named Rem. It puzzled me. But from then I decided to try and find their parents or grandparents. I was going to try to rid the world of them before they were born. Luckily this plan did not work. Well lucky for them. But then the time of their births had already passed, and for a few they were already long been born. At a point I allied myself with a computer program we all know named Xana. I was able to slip some information to him, and he launched his own attacks on a few of them. But he was a failure. Some jobs were to important to leave to the hands of someone else. The matter of riding myself of the human child.

I had Vain send some of our knights to attack a small town in the other side of the ocean. I told them to appear as storm demons, and cause mass chaos. And it worked wonderfully. Sadly they didn't rid me of the human. Though one phantom demon decided to do something he wasn't ordered to do at all. He took a young little girl, apparently from the family of the child I wanted dead, and fled the Terra. For what reasons, I have no idea. He was missing in action for a while. Vain told me he later showed back up at the palace a few months after the attack. Vain asked him where he had been. He was told that knight was attacked by a black figure that looked like a biker at the nexus. He was scanned, but then was told to leave. He was spared. Apparently the biker took the human child from the demon, but what became of her remains unknown to his day. Apparently the parents of the child I wanted dead studied ruins, and found a way they believed that would keep the demons away from the town, so they would never be attacked again. They later went to some old ruins in a desert to find an item called the Power Gloves. I called in a favor to Xana, and he possessed two humans. I told him to have them go and kidnap his parents, and to kill the boy. I sent Zuika to make sure the job was done. But when they arrived at the ruins, they took away his mother and father, and they blasted the boy in the face. They believed they killed him, but it only scared his face.

When I found out he wasn't killed, I called in Vain to finish this job himself. Vain tracked him down to the kids home town. Turned out he had detailed maps on where to find ruins. Turns out France had a large amount of ruins. The most ruins in one area in the world. I didn't fear his level of power, he was only bronze rank with those gloves anyway. But the visions didn't make me feel at ease with him alive. Vain engaged him in battle. With his much greater skill level, it should of been a piece of cake. He only had low level ice and shadow powers. But in the fight, somehow Vain was nearly killed. A wide range icicle attack was fired at Vain, and a few hit him in the throat. Left untreated, he would of died. So Vain had to flee to be healed of this injury. A few days later Vain found him in France, but he didn't attack him by my order. Xana told me that he had an attack planed that would take out all the remaining threats to he and I. So I ordered Vain to let Xana do his thing. Again I made a mistake in trusting that program. He failed badly, and even lost his dark human slave. For a while I just gave up on the idea of taking them out young. Apparently fate had some other plans with them.

Apparently a few years later, they came together again as a gang. A group of world savers. I watched their skill grow as they took down evil after evil. A part of me was worried. The other part of me thought I was worrying to much. I mean I was a demon king. Why should I worry? But then one day Rem came to the ruins, along with the dark human Neon. He and Neon met the light sage, and he battled them on my order. When he lost, he gave Rem a light orb. But later Rem returned to the ruins to speak with the light sage. I never expected Rem to become friends with him. The sage told him to find some potion in the fire temple ruins. I think the potion was to help bring Ponic's people to earth or something. I don't quite remember. I'm pretty sure that was the reason, because Ponic came with him on a later trip when it was about Ponic's people. But Rem got that potion, and a fire orb, from the fire sages ruins. But when he, Ponic, and Neon had returned to the light ruins later, I stepped in. But the light sage made a portal for them to leave. That annoyed me very much, but I had to get over it.

On other occasions, I took over Rem by a possession chip built for his gloves. I thanked E Link for that. I made different attacks on the gang using Rem. Sooner or later that led to him going back in time, via use of the super computer. He went in the past to destroy the chip for the gloves. He met E Link in that timeline, and was able to get it destroyed. But while they were in the past, I was able to get a hold of the Grand Blade. Three shadow sorcerers helped get a hold of it for me. Some member of the gang named Seth had it. I do wonder how he was able to get a hold of it in the first place, when I couldn't even track it down. Though it no longer mattered. I had what would break my seal. But then I learned the ruins had an extra seal. A seal that would only let the Grand Blade free me when a certain time came. So then it became a waiting game. That's when I made the most planing I had since my demon war. Only this would be more important then that in the long run.

At some point of this time of waiting, my servant the fire sage discovered a large iceberg in warm waters. When he melted it, inside was a person. He was a shadow clone of Rem. He was made by Izerion, the evil part of Ponic the Shadow wielder. When I told him his creator was dead, I took him in as my right hand. Though he wasn't called that at the time, I will refer to him by his name Draco. Using my powers, I was able to change him from a simple clone into a human. He was no longer bound to Izerion after that. He served me quite well, and would probably be called an ice human at the time. He also had shadow powers.

Later I also gained an ally in Skylos Caleb Pantech. I cant quite remember how it came about. At first I thought he only came to me because of the effects of his demon necklace, or that maybe being Death Skylos also could of effected his mind. Maybe it was because I was a good friend to him after his uncle passed away. Either way, he still seems to like me. He was very loyal to me, which rubbed Draco the wrong way. One good test of his loyalty was to bring me the cat demon Sango. She doesn't go by that anymore, but she's had so many names I don't remember what she goes by now a days. Skylos captured her, and I was able to kill her. It was a true test for him to me. Taking his cousin's girlfriend, and leading her to her death. And he passed. At an earlier time, I did wonder if he was still loyal to me. Like when he returned to his friends, and took a cat demon as a girlfriend. I sent Draco to make sure where he stood, and apparently he was still on my side. While I a little unsure, something was telling me it was fine. I trusted my gut on that. And before the time building up to my freedom, I wanted Draco and Skylos to bond. Not really sure how well that actually worked out, but it didn't cause problems. I guess that counts, right?

One more ally I gained was before Draco and Skylos. I tracked down the phantom demon orb that contained Grandor. I freed him once more. He still looked like a skeleton though. I prepared him some armor to wear. It was made mostly out of metals from destroyed Xana monsters. Sure its not really my taste, but the stuff is pretty strong. And when Vain joined me near my freedom, I had a mighty team. One item I acquired for the war was the Solar orb. Or more commonly called a sol orb. Right from the Sol demon himself. The apparent creator of all demons. Finding and meeting him was no simple task, but that could end up being a story on its own. And for now, it doesn't matter how I got it. Just that I did. Vain had gotten a large amount of phantom demons ready for battle. A large amount to attack the lunar realm, and a smaller amount to attack earth. I was going to make a disposable army of monsters made from the twilight shard, but I decided against it. My army was complete. Now I just had to wait for the day the seal to be broken.

After much waiting, my seal was broken. When the day came, the Grand Blade went into the pedestal, and freed me from my prison. After that myself and Vain went to meet our army that was ready to attack the lunar realm. While the battle in the lunar realm went on, the sages of fire and water used their powers to power a device to bring my tower from the bottom of the sea. This wasn't actually my tower, but the tower Zane made long ago. With my powerful army, along with my sol orb, I easily took over the entire realm. The king escaped, but it no longer mattered. The army had to remain in the realm to keep our hold on it. So I was left with a small army for earth. Upon my return to earth, my wonderful tower was here. And it turned out that as soon as the tower was raised, Rem decided to snoop around the tower. He was captured by the sage of water and Vain, and was imprisoned. But he wasn't held there long. Soon, Halo led a bunch of the others into the tower to save Rem. But not before he was reinfected with timeline sickness. But that was to weaken his body for the Apai to infect him. Rem was saved, but what I wanted from him I got. I took his power gloves, making him no longer a threat to me. Or so I thought.

While they were busy among themselves, I created three towers. Much like the kind from lyoko. They served as shield generators. They created a forcefield around my tower island. What I didn't count on was the Apai that infected Rem wanted me dead. Heck, I thought they were mindless. The Apai inside Rem agreed to help the gang if they would kill me. It lead Neon and a few others to the first tower. They attacked the guards at the tower, and Neon and I believe Ponic broke into the tower. The Sage of water battled Neon there. But apparently I heard she failed badly, and was quickly beaten. But I later heard from the light sage once I returned to normal that she lost on purpose. They didn't want the plan to work. Other then the fire sage. At the second tower, the Apai nearly took care of the whole thing himself. He transformed the guards into apai monsters, and killed them. Then infected the tower with apai. That quickly destroyed it. When the whole gang went to finish the last tower, Skylos and his girlfriend were there, waiting for them. A battle ensued between them all. Halo and the apai were able to sneak past them all, and go into the tower. The apai infected this tower like the last one, then Halo got them out of there. Once they returned to the cabin, the apai used Rem's sword to burn off all the skin patches that made the apai. Rem was in danger of dieing due to over infection. But they killed themselves to save Rem. He was also left a apai orb, so Rem could use the powers of apai himself. Then the time came for them to face me.

At the time, only myself, Skylos, and the fire sage I believe it was, were at the tower at the time. Keera the shadow wielder was snooping in the shadows, and we found her. But soon the whole team showed up. A long battle between both sides began. Skylos killed Neon in the battle. But the only other one to die was myself. As the battle reached its end, I ran Rem through with the Grand Blade. But he grabbed me in the neck, and infected me with apai. At a rate so fast, I was dieing. Ponic then finished me while I was weak. My attack killed Rem, but an orb Halo gave him revived him. But now that I was dead, the tower was falling. Ponic got everyone out, and I was buried in the towers ruin. Rem regained his gloves after he killed me. I still wonder what became of the Grand Blade after that. I believe that it was lost in the towers destruction.

Turns out the reason the rest of my followers weren't at the battle was that the light sage and Zuika captured Vain, Grandor, and Draco. When they got free, they went to the island. The tower was gone. Their king was dead. Vain and Grandor had to return to the phantom demon realm to keep order and call back their forces from the lunar realm. Draco stayed behind. He stayed at the ruins of the tower. But while he was there, my haunted hand brought him my twilight shard of power. He took the shard, and jammed it into his chest. Due to the great power of the shard, it transformed him into a Void human.

Before I was revived, I met Rem once more in the afterlife. Or something. Maybe its a place where the dead go when they aren't meant to be dead. I cant recall what we talked about though. It's been so long ago. He was revived by his reviving orb that E Link brought to him. I was stuck there. Until Izerion returned. Using....something, he revived me, and many of the gangs past villains. We were to serve him. I detested the idea, but he could kill me just as easily as he revived me. So I did as he asked. Though a possessed Neon took control from him. He was lowered to team up with the gang to stop Neon. I helped as well. But not before I was attacked by Neon. He had a lunar orb, and he used it on me. My old human body was restored once more, but my memories were still gone. Then Skylos used his dark form to look into my mind, and restored my memories. I helped the gang save Neon and stop Izerion. And so ended my life as the Ruins master. I was once again known as Lareo. But now, I am Lareo the phantom demon.



(Note from Writer: Some information may be incorrect, due to the fact that its been years since I did these things. That or events may just be out of order. But I'm sure you don't care, since you all probably don't remember either. )

[Aqua]

Part Four: The Life Onward.

After defeating Izerion in his latest caper, I came to be a member of the gang. Though not to often I was really needed. But I've...sat through many tries at a take over. The chaos humans, the love demon realm problem, Aldaras's attacks, Mythos's creating of chaos power, all kinds of attacks. Not all I was apart of though. Though Zalendor's first attack on the gang hit me hard. I've seen a large amount of attacks since I joined the gang.

Also since I joined the gang, I made friends with them. For my past life as Runic the phantom demon, I had few people I called friend. Only Grandor and Vain. Skylos was by my side, no matter what I decided to do. He was first friend of the gang. Some people like Neon and Rem were a little harder to win over, but soon enough I was friends with them all. Mire and I had a odd way of hitting it off.

One day, I was flying over the ocean. I was going to the ruined temple in a desert across the ocean. Mire had tailed me since my take off from France. When I landed at the temple grounds in the desert, I noticed him. Seemed he was just bored, and followed me here. I didn't mind his company. I told him I came to check on a old weapon called the Solar sword. He decided he wanted to see it with me. We worked our way through the temples ruined hall ways. Our demon forms were to tall to fit in, so we changed into our human forms. Soon enough, we worked our way to a room. It had a grave stone in it, and a stone statue on a higher part of the room. The grave stone happened to belong to my love, Mary the time demon. I remembered her saying once that when she passed on, she wanted to be buried here. It saddened me to see the grave, but I expected it. I left a blue rose at the grave. That was her favorite flower. I often gave it to her as gifts. And apparently I still do till this day. Then we proceeded to the statue. I placed my hand on the many gem eyes of it. It scanned me, and let us continue. Then we came to the great hall chamber of the Solar Sword. I showed him the blade, and after a few moments we left. On our way out we ran into the Lunar demon Raylo, and the cat demon Ruleta. Me and Mire fought side by side, and were able to make them back off. All in all, I enjoyed our little adventure.

When it comes to most of the attacks we dealt with, most of the work I did was behind the scenes. Like when Zalendor first came to this timeline. In his attack, I needed to track down the Solar sword, since no one else remembered. I headed to the ruined temple myself, and got past all darken guards to the grave room. But Ruleta and Raylo were waiting for me, and would not let me pass without beating them. Twilore's shards in their heads effected them, and he controlled them in a way. But I took care of that with my phantom powers, and rid them of their shards. After that, they were back on the right side. We then went to the sword chamber. A shield was placed over it, powered by a generator. Zalendor also had the sword protected by a robotic dragon covered in chaos darkness. Me, Raylo, and Ruleta were able to defeat it, and we got the sword. But the dragon had a dark world bomb implanted inside of it. We managed to escape before it sucked us in though. Shortly after our escape, on our way back to France, we ran into what I call the S.S. XANA. It was a huge battleship that looked like a old style ship. The three of us tried to take this ship, and its captain Xana as a polymorph as William. But we were badly outnumbered. And when it seemed like the end, Mire and Flare the fire demon showed up. We five demons took down the ship, and I had the honor of defeating Xana. Apparently Zalendor cut ties with Xana, and was sent back to the Internet.

When we returned to France, my friends went to the cabin to stop a army of darkens that were on their way to attack. I went off to the factory to join the others in their battle against Zalendor. I arrived before they stormed the factory, and joined them in the attack. The battle against him was tough, but the sword gave us an edge. And in the end, after fighting Zalendor's powerful darkforce form with both the Solar sword and Rem aura powers, along with everyone's power, we were able to win. And so I was apart of stopping Zalendor once again. But that wasn't the end of him. He managed to sneak into my mind. He stayed while his body regenerated, and it gave him a great way to spy on the gang. Though Niko and Skylos blew his cover, he still escaped. Shortly after that, he apparently teamed up with Zane the time traveler, and he launched another attack on France.

Zane had built the battleship Glatactus for Zalendor to use. And he used it for many years. For this attack, Zalendor powered his main cannon with a time and dimension orb. It allowed him to rewrite time with its powers, and erased places and things from existence. It also cause people from the future, Ralph and Kane, and those from the past, Mary, and Eric's brother Chain. At one point, myself, Mary, and who remained of my old friends went to attack Zalendor at his battleship. It ended badly for us, since we were captured. That left the gang to finish the mission. Though the Shadow Rider busted us out while the gang fought the villain foursome of Zalendor, Giga, Zane, and Shroud. Apparently Rem even transformed into the powerful Darken Werewolf during the battle. A powerful form that rivals the dark force form at a one twilight shard level. But after they finished their battle, we noticed darkens and a tower at the edge of the woods. It was armed with a time space bomb, which would of erased france from history. A last ditch effort to take us down. But that went as well as his first plan did. It failed.

After that attack, the master sage appeared to us all. He would be the one to return everyone to the timelines everyone belonged in. But Mary....She was revived from the dead. I was worried to death about her. I didn't want her to return to the grave. Even though she figured she might have to. But I asked the master sage when we returned to the banishment realm to not return her to the way she was. If their was any other way. I couldnt take losing her again... The master sage had mercy on her, and allowed her to stay in the banishment realm for the rest of her new life. Eric didn't want to part from his brother again, after all this time. But Chain said it would be ok. Because one day the would meet again. Apparently in the timeline he arrived from, they had already met again. Now Eric just had to wait for that day to arrive again. And as for Ralph and Kane. They would return back to the future in their ships with the help of the master sage. Kane's father had somehow spoken with Kane over a communication device from the future after Zalendor's attack. The time distortion must of allowed it. He shortly spoke to Kane, and told him to give Rem a map that was in the glove compartment of the Laser Arrow. Later Rem discovered something that most likely changed his life because of that map. Then after everyone said their goodbyes to everyone, The master sage sent everyone on their way. And that ended that adventure of those from the past and the future. The Shadow Rider also came by shortly afterwards. He spoke to a few of the gang about how he is hunting down Zane and Shroud, mainly Zane, for some of the worst crimes possible. Messing with the timelines, changing the course of ones fate, and effecting the free will of those he crosses paths with. When he changes the free will of beings, he changes their fate. He left a device in order for the gang to contact The Shadow Rider if they were to ever see Zane or Shroud again. Which of course the did.

But that's all the time I have today to tell you about stories of the past. I was involved and saw many more missions and adventures, but those are for another day. "Now how did you all like my little story?" Lareo asked those who were listening.

"You call that little?" Zestos replied with a grin.

Cerulean giggled. "Oh give him a break, Zestos. It was a wonderful story, Mr. Lareo."

Katie nodded in agreement. "Oh yes. It was a fun tale that had plenty of action and drama."

Lareo looked to Zestos with a smirk. "Well it's a good think you all didn't have to go anywhere." Then he looked to Cerulean and Katie. "Well at least you two liked it. Thank you. I do enjoy telling the story."

Zestos rolled his eyes. "Now I didn't say anything about not liking it." he scratched absently at the sleeve of his red outfit that he was wearing. It was was trimmed in orange that matched the color of Sol. He had been turned into a Sol Human, after all. "I almost wish I had been there." The girls laughed.

Lareo laughed as well. "Thank you. I have heard that a few times. Skylos being one in particular, but that's probably not a surprise. My life surely wasn't boring, looking back on it." He said.

"Of course, you've lived quite a long life." Zestos pointed out. "We're nowhere near your age."

Katie shrugged. "Yeah, but look at what we've done and just how young we are. We'll have just as much fun as he has by the time we're his age."

Lareo nodded. "I sure hope so. Unless interesting adventures stop happening in the distant future." He chuckled slightly. Like that would happen. "But still, I'm sure you all will. Then you can tell me, and many others your stories later in life, when you're as old as me." He chuckled again.

"If you're still alive then." Zestos pointed out with a smirk. Katie punched him in the arm playfully. Zestos rubbed his arm and put on an amused look.

Lareo laughed. "Well I don't know. I'm already almost eight hundred already. So...Whoa, I'd be sixteen hundred years old by then. I wonder if demons even live that long. I sure hope life doesn't get boring by then. Otherwise living that long could be a pain." He chuckled a little more. He seemed to be enjoying the visit. "Oh wait, I just remembered. No more demons. Hard to believe that slipped my mind, after that whole crystal demon thing. But being a demon for so long, then talking about how I was, I guess it's understandable." He said, laughing a little.

"Though maybe since you didn't immediately die from being turned human means that you'll still live as long as a Demon. Of course, I heard some Power Humans live forever unless someone actually physically kills them..." Cerulean noted.

"There ya go. There's always that. And since I'd be a phantom human now, I probably got a good amount of life left in me. Or am I a shadow human? So many things." Lareo chuckled.

"That's something you might want to ask Peter." Katie noted. Of course that brought a bit of a silence. Peter not being there with them was...odd. And what he actually was was odder still.

"Yeah I guess so." He said. "Thinking about it, Peter is a lot like me in a way. Only things are flipped around a bit with Peter."

"Let's hope that not everything is going to be flipped, though." Zestos noted wryly. "He's good now...But what if that were to change?" He shook his head.

"You know, you sound just like Zach...All pessimistic like that." Katie punched him again, trying to grin through what he had just said.

Lareo started laughing again. What a good mood he was in today. "Yeah he does a bit." He paused for a second. "But one thing I learned in that position, is that it's hard to choose to do evil when you've been a great hero already. At least it was for me."

Cerulean have a sigh. "I'm more worried that he'd kill himself. To have unknowingly done a 180° turn, then find out after you had made a new life... it must have been devastating to him."

"Hmm...True, he's in a diffrent position then I was. But then killing himself seems a little over the top. But maybe that's just my mindset. And I'm thinking clearly. But Peter probably has a lot going on in his head right now because of this. I know I did when I got my memories back." Lareo stated.

"Maybe you should talk to him. You might be able to help him..." Katie suggested quietly. "I am worried about him...greatly. And I bet his dad and grandfather are too. Especially Skylos. My grandmother used to tell me that Skylos always felt like he was responsible for what happened..."

"Hmm...I think I will next time I see him. But I would hardly blame Skylos, or any of his descendants for what happened to Peter. If anyone is to blame, it would be Felix. Skylos is just the one that ended up with him, because of Felix."

"Let's not be pointing fingers... He's had a rougher life than all of us." Cerulean noted.

"And what do you know of that?" Zestos remarked.

"Oh...well... I'm not supposed to say. My dad probably wouldn't like me telling secrets." Cerulean blushed.

Lareo chuckled. "Oh don't worry. I'm not pointing fingers, Cerulean. I was just simply stating a fact. Don't worry. Besides, I'm sure Felix wont lose any sleep over it." He chuckled a little more at that last part.

"Hmm." Was all Cerulean had to offer. She really wasn't sure how everyone felt about Felix. Though based of what her dad had told her, no one really liked him.

"Don't worry to much about Felix. He just has a habit of rubbing some people the wrong way. Some people can handle him, others have a tougher time." Lareo had the feeling Cerulean was feeling something like that, so he had said that for that reason.

"Mmhm." Cerulean nodded. Zestos and Katie nodded as well. Neither really knew him, so their opinion was neutral. Lareo then noticed the time.

"Oh. It's getting late. I have kept you all quite a while, haven't I? Sorry about that."

Zestos laughed. "Hey. We're not children. Thanks for giving us a reason to stay up late." Zestos stood up and stretched. Katie and Cerulean also stood.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Lareo." Cerulean said meekly.

Katie grinned. "Yes! Make sure to invite us again. I'll have to tell you about that time my grandmother made friends with a salmon."

Lareo laughed. "And thank you all for coming. I enjoyed myself." Then he laughed at what Katie said. "Sounds intresting. I'll be expecting it then."

"All righty. Good night. See you soon!" Cerulean waved and they left.

Lareo waved as they left. "Heh heh. What good kids." He said. "I wonder who else will hear my story. Maybe I should tell it to Peter next.

End.

[Note from writer: I would like to thank Caleb for helping me do the last part. It was much easier to do it with his help lol]