Bastard:
Ashes
by
the DragonBard
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This is a prologue to another fic I'm working on. I thought of the two
stories seperately, and then thought of combining them into one, with this
as a prologue. Tell me what you think.
There are many spoilers for things that happen after the anime, so if
you're confused, just check out my explanation at the end.
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This is a work of fan fiction. The characters portrayed in this story
are not mine, but are the property of Pioneer, and the company that owns the
Bastard manga series. I do not intend to make any money off of them
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An old man lay upon a large bed. It was obvious to any that knew what
to look for that he had once been very powerful physically. But time and
age had ravaged that power, leaving him unable to raise himself from his
bed. His bed was surrounded by people, all with a look of sadness on their
faces, all but the two light haired young men, whose faces showed a complete
lack of emotion..
"Well, Dark Schnieder," the old man said. "I never thought that this
would be the way it would end, with me dying in bed. I was certain that I
would die fighting in some battle against one of our enemies. But you had
to go and beat them all."
"Sorry to disappoint you Gara." the silver haired Dark Schnieder said.
"Maybe I should go out and make a few new ones just to make you happy."
The pair chuckled, even under the glares of the two young women.
"Don't trouble yourself." Gara joked back.
"Luchee, how can you make jokes like that?" the redheaded Yoko asked.
It had been over sixty years since she had freed Dark Schnieder from the
spell that bound him within the body of Luchee Renren, but thanks to the
magic training that Dark Schneider, Kall-su, Arshes Nei, and her father had
given her, she hadn't aged much past her twentieth year. Otherwise she
would look not much better than Gara, lying on his bed.
"I don't mind, Yoko. To a ninja, death is an old friend who visits
often. She holds no fear for me." Gara chuckled. He then motioned to
Yoko. "Fetch me the Murasame blade." Yoko was confused by this request,
but quickly moved to fulfill it. She walked over and lifted it from the
stand where it rested. She brought it back to Gara's bed, but when she
moved to hand it to him, he placed his hand over hers.
"I want you to have it." Yoko and the others were startled by this.
Gara chuckled. "None of my ninja are good enough to really use this blade,
and since Nei and the others have their own magical swords, and since I
originally got this thing from Dark Schneider, I thought it best that it
should go to you." The tears Yoko had tried to hold back, began to steadily
fall at that. She clutched the blade to her chest, and bowed to her old
friend. Gara glanced at Kall-su.
"Well �Ice King,' sorry I took you away from your home, just to see an
old man's last days."
Kall-su shook his head. "I would have traveled much further than that,
old friend." He said stoicly.
Gara then reached out to Arshes Nei. She grabbed his hand, and
kneeling by his bed, she brought that hand to her cheek.
"Don't cry, Nei. I'm not going to be going anywhere. I'll always be
with you." With that said, Ninja Master Gara, former Lord of Havok, hero
of the war against the forces of Heaven and Hell, closed his eyes, and
passed beyond this world.
It had been a long week since the death of Ninja Master Gara. The King
of Metarikan had held a state funeral for their hero, one which was well
attended. Few people really knew who the Ninja Master was, it had been so
many years since the end of the war, and Gara had stayed out of the public
eye, as was his tendency as a ninja. Gara's friends, the last four
surviving heros of the war, had stood up well under the pressures. They had
survived facing the forces of Heaven and Hell, after all, what could a
simple ceremony do to them? Once Gara was finally laid to rest, Yoko went
to the king to deliver her message.
"What?" He yelled. Yoko stood before him, nodding her head.
"That is correct, Your Majesty. Dark Scheider, Thunder Empress Arshes
Nei, Kall-su the White King, and I, will be leaving Metarikana within the
week."
"But who will protect us from mages with the four of you gone?" One of
the priests asked. They were much like the aides that had followed Great
Priest Geo Notes, her father, around when she was younger, Yoko noted.
"There are no mages of any real power left in this world, besides the
four of us. Those that remain can easily be handled by the priests, and
those mages we have trained."
The king, who had recovered his composure, frowned in contemplation.
"Why are you leaving?" Yoko sighed. The king, Lars the third, was the
great-grandson of the king who had ruled Metarikana when she was a child,
but the pair looked much alike.
"It is simple, Your Majesty. The four of us have watched over this
land for decades. We have faced forces from the pits of Hell, to the
heights of Heaven. We have lived as our friends have grown old and died.
With Gara dead, the last of the mortals I knew as a child has passed away.
The world has changed, and I can no longer stand to see people I knew as
children, grow old and die before my eyes."
The king looked at Yoko, and saw the pain in her eyes. With a sigh, he
gave his permission for them to go. <Not that I could have stopped them.>
He thought to himself. <It was these same people who defeated the God of
Destruction, after it awoke from its sleep of death.>
It was over a month later, that Nei, Dark Schneider, Kall-su, and Yoko
arrived at their destination, the Gateway. A doorway into other worlds.
"I found this a few millenia ago, while visitng this world." Dark
Schneider had said. It was odd to everyone, including himself, when Dark
Schneider began to talk of things that his other half, Luchee, or rather
things the angel Lucifer, who was Luchee's true form, had seen before the
ending of the Old World. "I didn't think much of it at the time. I had the
power to go anywhere I needed without it. Don't even know where it came
from."
<When Luchee first mentioned this,> Yoko thought to herself, as they
stood infront of the Gateway. <I guess I had already decided to leave. I
just wanted a chance to be here for Gara. Now that he's gone, there's
nothing holding us here.>
"Well," Schneider said, turning to everyone. "Last chance to back
out." Seeing no takers, he walked into the door of light, followed soon
after by Kall-su, Nei, and, after a final look at the world of her birth, by
Yoko.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay. Some of this may be unfamiliar, even to those who've seen the 3
volume anime, so I'll try to explain.
1) It turns out that there was a second god of destruction besides
Anthlasax. This god, like Anthlasax, was created by a group of scientists
who were responsible for the destruction of the old world. However, the
second god of destruction was never full assembled, leaving it in three
components. One of these components was Dark Schneider, the second was
Luchee Ren Ren, and the third was a dragon warrior. Each of these
components is fully as powerful as DS himself, but combined, they are
invincible.
2) In this world, Lucifer and Satan are two different beings. Lucifer is
one of the greatest angels in Heaven, until he left when the other angels
decided humanity was delving into things that they shouldn't, and caused
Anthlasax to go out of control.
All of the information I have comes from Prince Lazu's web page, which
has the best, most complete synopsis of the manga I've found. Actually
it's the only synopsis of the manga I've found.
Okay.
Recently I was trying to send a friend one of my stories, by sending it as
an attachment. However, either hotmail or my-deja.com e-mail has erased the
file. So even 'I' don't have a copy. I've even checked on both RAAC and
the FFML archives, and they don't have a copy either.
What I'm getting at is: can someone send me a copy of my fan fic,
Triumverant? I may have accidently sent it as From Ragnorak to Genesis.
Either way, please privately send me a copy. If you can find it.
Thanks.
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