Auldus Vull walked between trees on a chill, misty morning.  This was the Pine Barrens, and though the sun was coming up, it was only just peaking through the branches, and doing nothing to dispel the cold.  He was dressed as he ought to be, in a thick woolen coat, with a fur lined neck and hood.  His long hair was braided and tied back, neatly but without much care for looks.  He stopped walking, but said nothing as more figures emerged from behind trees and out of the mist.  

The largest figure, an overwhelmingly tall, barrel chested man, preempted his companions, “Auldus, it doesn’t have to go this way,” his voice was tremulous and beseeching, “It’s not too late, you can put things right still.”  

“Max… you know that’s not true,” a much smaller man spoke.  His voice was controlled, if barely, and he couldn’t seem to look long into Max’s anguished face.

“No more talk,” a woman spoke up, her voice hard with fury.  She was almost as tall as Max, but leaner and fiercer looking.  She held her hand before her and called her keyblade.  It was simple and deadly looking.  

“Valery . . .” the man started, but Auldus had finally spoken as well.  

“No more talk,” he echoed, calling his keyblade in turn.  It was long and silver finished, with delicate scrollwork and lettering etched halfway up the blade.  The rest of the assembled Masters took their cue to arm themselves.  Max, looked at his companions miserably and called his own.  

Auldus didn’t move from his spot, but simply raised his keyblade, and dropped it down again.  Red flashes burst from the trees behind him, sending bolts of light flying at the men and women aligned opposite him.   Many of the Masters went down in the first volley.  The man in the center of the crowd called up a magic barrier to protect himself and Max, while Valery charged at Auldus, swiping the bolts aside with her keyblade as she ran.  She left herself open as she raised her blade above her head to strike, and took a blast to her left side.  Her right side kept working, however, and brought a blow down on Auldus.  He parried it, and allowed the black armored men emerging from behind him to finish her off with their strange, light emitting weapons.  He didn’t look at her as she fell.  

The rifles of the troopers couldn’t penetrate the barrier protecting Max and his friend, so Auldus called a magical lightning from the sky.  It arched around the barrier, and cracked it, letting the red bolts in to strike the last two masters.  With the battle at an early end, Auldus called the troopers to a halt, and bid them return to their vessel.  He watched as they left, and when they were gone, he set to work.  Most of the Masters had died already, and their keyblades had vanished, but Max and his companion lived, and Auldus rushed to them to perform his experimental spells.  In a moment, he had their keyblades in a cage of light, with what looked like miniature suns at its corners.  He smiled at it, but his smile slipped off his face as he looked at his old comrades on the ground.  

“Fade away, Stefan.  Maximus was right, it didn’t have to end like this.  I offered you all a place in my kingdom.  But that is in the past now.  It’s over.”  

Stefan glanced at Maximus.  Though he had ceased to breath, his keyblade hadn’t given up its physical form.  He glowered back up at Auldus, his body shaking with the pain of his death.  

“I promise you,” he said, “It’s not over.”  

Auldus raised an eyebrow, but didn’t have the chance to stop the flood of incantations that Stefan let out.  He raised his hands to ward off the spell, but nothing happened, and when he looked back down, Stefan had indeed faded away.  Auldus cast a spell after all, bidding the earth to swallow up the Masters who had been his brothers and sisters once.  He would have marked their graves, but none of this would be here by sundown.  He moved on.  

~~

It is a dream. Or, it should be, the last thing you remember was going to bed, but this feels like the real world. It doesn't look like it, though. Though you can't see sky, there are no walls either. It is just infinite blackness as far as you can see in all directions but down. Down is the floor, a floor of stained glass. It is a circle, divided into wedges. Two of the wedges are dark, but the lit ones depict men and women, robed magnificently and holding strange weapons. You are standing directly on one of these wedges, and you can see others standing on the other glowing sections. 

Of the two dark wedges, only one has a person standing on it. Unlike all of the others, the man standing here is the same as the one depicted in the dark slice he stands on. His segment of the glass is dark, but he produces his own ethereal glow. He looks strained as he looks around at you all. 

“The darkness is coming. You of strong will are here to resist it.” He lifted one hand, palm up and with the fingers almost clawlike. As he did this, the strange weapons in the glass display rose up, becoming solid and three dimensional. “Will you accept my call? Will you end this unnatural empire?”