[center][h2][i][u]Emperor Mateus/Exdeath[/u][/i][/h2][/center][center][h3][url=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Edge_of_Madness_(Dissidia)][i]Edge of Madness[/i][/url]
[i](Past)[/i][/h3][/center]
	`The '[i]Crystal[/i] Principle'...` Mateus thought to himself as he awaited the boy's response.

	The Emperor of Palamecia's facial expression never changed in response to Jegran's mention of the word 'Crystal', but something was moving through his mind behind that poker face during the moments that went by afterwards -- something which his temporary allies were likely never to know the details of. No one could know what he knew - what he had come to understand - until the time was perfect, and he would allow this laughable masquerade ball to go on only until that moment.

	Exdeath's expression regarding the mention of the word 'Crystal' would have been considerably more noticeable, if he actually had a visible face in the first place to [i]show[/i] an expression. While he had far less reason to take note of this word than Mateus did, it was impossible for it not to take his notice given how the 'Crystals' were significant to his own world -- they had been responsible for the seals that held him in place, after all.

	The man called Jegran had spoken as though the power that had chosen him was somehow an authority over his world and had granted him dominion, but this was meaningless to Exdeath. The power of the Void was unmatchable, and would eventually consume all of these insects; however, for the time being their existence would be useful to get rid of these enemies they were to face with Exdeath needing to waste less of his own effort for the task. That alone was why he chose not to open the Rift immediately and destroy everyone here.

	`So -- Marche, is it? This boy will do...` Mateus thought to himself once Marche had introduced himself and followed up with a question. Everything was moving according to plan, and the Emperor of Palamecia was confident that he found another pawn for his board; in fact, he had been certain of it from the moment the boy had expressed his desires earlier. While Marche had not asked Mateus for his name, he simply chose to take it as a form of flattery - as if he was to great to give his name to a human - and the 'sir' had been sufficient. This boy would be far less insufferable than most of the others present.

	"Dominion." Mateus responded bluntly, quite certain that he could word his intentions in a way that not only made him sound less malevolent than the others here but even make him sound noble, "In my own world, I am the Emperor of Palamecia; greatest of all powers in the land... Under our rule, the world knows true peace and justice. We are a bastion that safeguards the very foundation of society." he said, certain that even if Chaos or anyone else in the room was able to see through his lies - very doubtful, especially considering they knew nothing of the world he came from - that they would not interfere with his methods of turning the boy to the darkness, "However, there are anarchists out there who would challenge our rule for the sake of their own petty ends... Upon coming here, I have learned that this anarchy spreads even further -- thus, I will bring it under control." he continued, sounding rather sincere -- he wore a perfect mask, subtly manipulating those around him by invisible strings.

	 Looking at the boy, he wasted no time in working towards his ultimate ends, "I have a proposal for you..." Mateus spoke, still addressing the boy like a benevolent lord, "Why not aid me in my quest here...?" he said, metaphorically holding out the Fruit of Knowledge to the poor with a sort of 'all the kingdoms of the world shall I give onto thee' atmosphere, "In exchange, I will [i]personally[/i] see that your world is restored, and ensure its [i]eternal[/i] salvation... I shall also bestow upon you the power to face those you encounter in the coming war." he promised, listening to Chaos explained his intentions for their conduct afterwards -- finding amusement in how easily the creature was making this for him.

	"The [i]great[/i] Exdeath, [i]reduced[/i] to a game of search fit for cretins?! Mwahahah -- rubbish!" Exdeath spoke in response to the notion that he would have to go out and find his enemies like some scavenger, "My minions will find these pitiful worms [i]for[/i] me!" he stated. These words were not a request, but an outright fact in his eyes. Not that he needed to make a point to Chaos that he could not command him, since the beast had already said it would not control their methods, but his ego dictated that he make this clear either way.

	Growing impatient now, Exdeath continued to speak, "This Cosmos had best not keep me waiting much longer... Let us destroy this world together!" he spoke to everyone present, "You may all seek dominance or destruction, but in the end everything you do is impotent -- [i]everything[/i] returns to the Void in the end!" he continued, "Nothing is eternal!" he stated in response to those seeking to rule or protect, "Destruction only leads to the Void!" he stated to those who desired to destroy, such as the jester who would either sympathize with his words or take offense to them depending on how his mentality worked -- Exdeath could not care less which.

	Mateus smirked, internally and intensely laughing within his hidden world of his mind, having turned his face from Marche's sight at this point, refusing to allow any to contemplate what was potentially going through his head. [i]Everything[/i] was going according to plan -- truly, Mateus had to work hard to keep himself from laughing out loud.

[center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center][center][h2][i][u]Firion[/u][/i][/h2][/center][center][h3][url=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Mist_Cave][i]Mist Cave[/i][/url][/h3][/center]
	`The 'Kingdom of Baron'...? 'Mist Cave'...?` Firion thought to himself, his expression changing momentarily to one of confusion.

	His honesty made it somewhat difficult for him to hide the fact that he was unfamiliar with the names being given. Granted, he was not entirely familiar with his world, but something felt off about all of this. On the other hand, it appeared as though these men were actually friendly, so he at least needed not worry about having to defend himself from them. He was unlikely to let his guard down completely, given that deception lay in wait everywhere in this world. After watching his homeland of Fynn be destroyed, there was no way he could possibly be so naïve in his dealings of the world anymore. The real problem was how he got here -- to the best of his understanding he was dead, yet now it seemed as though he had been teleported somewhere while he was unconscious; however, it was also possible he was dreaming.

	Firion was about to respond to the words of the initial man -- the one who had introduced himself as 'Kain' moments before, referring to himself as a 'Dragoon'. For some reason, this man known as Kain looked remarkably familiar to him, and term 'Dragoon' was something he recognized too. Hold on -- weren't 'Dragoons' a group of dragon riders who were wiped out by the Emperor of Palamecia for being too dangerous? Firion was certain of that somehow, but he found himself unable to recall [i]why[/i] he knew that exactly. Still, his understanding seemed completely at odds with the story this man was giving right as he had rushed around the corner to encounter them, almost insinuating that he might have been sent into the past. Was that even possible? He thought it was best to simply ask the man earnestly; however, the older fellow started speaking before he had a chance to say anything.

	`The 'Kingdom of Bal'...?` he internally questioned once again, not really looking any less perplexed than he had before.

	"This is hard for me to say..." Firion started, figuring it would be best just to be honest with these men, "... but I really have no clue what either of you're talking about." he stated earnestly, "To the best of my knowledge, none of these places you're talking about exist. Until I encountered you both, I thought this was Purgatory..." he added, wondering if they would even be aware of such a term -- he could believe anything was possible at this point. "The last thing I remember was being wounded by imperial soldiers from the Empire of Palamecia... I thought I was dead, yet now I find myself here -- wherever 'here' is..." he pointed out. Surely these men [i]had[/i] to know about the Empire of Palamecia.

	Firion decided not to confirm or deny the decision for them to travel together until after they answered his words -- it was never if he not get ahead of himself here, especially since it was still confusing as to who these people were or what was going on. He did not sense anything inherently 'evil' in these men, and - if they would accept his assistance - he would certainly be willing to aid this Kain person in finding his companion -- the man known as 'Cecil'. Nevertheless, finding his own friends was his most important thought. He would not bring them up until he knew more about the two in front of him though. His expression gave no indication that he was refusing the offer to accompany them, but rather that he wanted to understand the situation -- being too hot-headed or thoughtless here would not help him.

[center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center][center][h2][i][u]Cecil Harvey[/u][/i][/h2][/center][center][h3][url=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Burmecia][i]Burmecia[/i][/url][/h3][/center]
	`I suspected it was probably for naught to ask her about Kain... Where on Earth am I...?` Cecil thought to himself.

	The more this woman spoke to him, the more alien everything sounded. It literally felt like Cecil was in another world completely, and not only due to this mysterious woman who was [i]clearly[/i] not human yet seemed human at the same time. Nothing short of 'alien' could describe the situation -- there was no other way to define it, and her further explanation about having never heard of Baron - alongside all of her details regarding this 'Kingdom of Lindblum' - only made him more certain that there was no way he could possibly still be on Earth. He did not feel as though he was dreaming, but then it could have been incredibly lucid. He also had no recollection of dying, so the chances that he had gone to the afterlife were highly unlikely. Putting his doubts aside regarding whether this place was [i]real[/i] or not, he had just realized a way to confirm that he was definitely not in his own world.

	"This 'Lindblum' -- I've not heard of it either... Cid Pollendina, a genius engineer, has been designing airships in Baron for years now." Cecil started, "I am - well, I [i]was[/i] - the commander of the Red Wings, so I'm personally familiar with airships..." he explained, not bothering to go into what the 'Red Wings' meant because he had no doubt in his mind now that she would not have heard of that air force, and he was about to get to what he really wanted to say. He only spoke those words in order to make it clearer that he was not making any of this up.

	Something had seemed to be upsetting the woman just prior to him speaking then, as if something was on her mind. Perhaps this place was making her uncomfortable - at least, it seemed that way - but Cecil figured he could ask if she was alright once he had gotten this more problematic situation worked out. Choosing not to waste anymore time, Cecil decided to just come right out and say it.

	"I'm fairly certain now that this world isn't Earth... I've no idea if I'm dreaming or not, but everything we have said fails to match up, and neither of us appear to be lying." he said, fairly confident that this woman would understand the implications of him using the word 'Earth' as if it was a name.

	Had it not been for the fact that this woman was obviously not human, Cecil might have thought that the idea of her lying to him was more realistic than the conclusion that his mind had now come to about the situation; however, there was also the fact that neither of their eyes or voices had any hint of deception in them. It was almost impossible to believe that they came from the same world, based off their current discussion. Cecil was quite knowledgeable about his world, since he had travelled quite a lot of it using airship before his fall from Baron's favour. This woman's words made it clear that she knew about too many places he had never even [i]vaguely[/i] heard of.

[center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center][center][h2][i][u]Terra Branford[/u][/i][/h2][/center][center][h3][url=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/South_Figaro][i]South Figaro, Forest ~ World of Balance[/i][/url][/h3][/center]
	Terra was a bit nervous when the girl had decided not to simply pass by her, but felt relieved by the seemingly unthreatening way she was going about striking up a conversation with her. From what she had just said, this girl was lost -- that made two of them. She recognized this forest - somehow - but overall she had no idea why it felt familiar to her. Thanks to her amnesia, she really had no idea what was going on at all -- Terra was hardly in a position to provide this girl with directions or anything...

	Before the girl could finish talking to her though, Terra pushed back against the tree again as she heard a rather loud voice - male from what she could tell, even if it was high-pitched - shouted about having thrown a tree. Was that the notice that had woken her up or something? She never really made much of what it had been, since the sleep she felt like she was coming out of was incredibly heavy to be perfectly honest. Really, she had absolutely no idea what was going on, but the voice startled her either way. The other girl seemed particularly irritated by the other person - whoever they were - but the exact reason was uncertain, given how it might have been due to something about the way they were talking, or the fact that they were apparently tossing trees around in this place. Tossing trees? Could a human even do that? What sort of monster was this young man? Well, 'young man' was naturally assuming the sound of his voice was not misleading. Whatever the truth was, it seemed like this younger girl wanted Terra to come with her to get some answers.

	`Use 'that'...? Oh, the sword...` Terra thought, lowering her face slightly at the question. She could not really just explain that she could use magic and that the sword was to help her enhance it, could she? Nothing but problems came up when people found out what she was, at least from what little her memory was telling her.

	"I... I don't know..." she responded softly, unable to come up with a way to explain herself that would be believable to anyone who was not already familiar with her, and since she had no real memory of who - if anyone - was familiar with her, she could hardly gauge whether this girl would be such a person... Wait a minute -- 'memory'? That was it! She had a way to explain what she had just said without lying or revealing that she was not normal. "... I have... amnesia..." she continued in her soft voice, making sure to speak up about this detail before the girl thought her initial response was too suspicious or weird. She [i]was[/i] carrying a sword, after all -- certainly it would be strange if she did not know how to use it.