The History of Firefly Cross

The story of Firefly Cross is a story about two opposing sides, the Light and the Dark, and how they are manipulated to fall into the path set out for them by Fate. However, the tale truly begins long before any sides were chosen, before any higher powers became involved, and before an official leader had been selected for the cause.

The conflict between the Light and the Dark began before the two sides even had their simple titles. It was a conflict between people of two ideas, those who had faith in humanity and the abilites of man, and those who distrusted mankind and felt the need to control them. In the begining, this conflict was merely feuds between small groups, but overtime it grew as more people joined the cause for either side. Feuds became skirmishes became wars, and neither side would give way to the other. The two sides even began concocting spells and building energy for their particular orientation, and creatures began to appear, created out of this new magic and feeding off of it.

After a time of patiently watching the two sides grow increasingly more powerful, Fate decided she had to intervene in the matter...

Fate is not a goddess. She is not a deity of any sort. She can neither create nor destroy. She can only giude mortals. Her purpose is to guide everything towards an end that only she herself is certain of. This end is the absolute, it is what everything in the universe has existed to become, however, since Fate can only guide, not effect, people are free to ignore her, and go their own way. When a person does not do as Fate wishes, it is from this that the chaos in the world is created. And chaos only creates more chaos, bringing matters further out of Fate's control.

So it was with the Light and the Dark. Their warring was none of Fate's doing, and it was interfereing with her plans. However, the two sides had grown too powerful and too prevalent to simply ignore. So rather than try to be rid of them, Fate decided to bring them under her control. Perhaps they could be used as another tool to direct the world.

Through the dragon race (one of the few races which she could speak to in person, and one which was in contact with humans) she enlisted the help of several powerful mages. She charged them with creating two swords of equal power, once for the Light and one for the Dark. So much did she believe in this idea that she used a great deal of energy to appear in the mortal world long enough to place the stones in the hilt of each sword. They remain the only physical objects to ever have been touched by the hand of Fate, and her influence over them is very powerful. It is next to impossible to destroy the swords, or keep them from the hand of the one she had chosen to weild them.

The swords were named Ra'grathon and Kyar'tonis and their use was granted to a human from each side. This human was known as the Keeper of the sword. Generally the Keeper was a nobleman, one who had access to people and resources, and who was generally well-trained in combat, or had easy access to that training. The Keeper became the leader for each side commanding all the forces for those that followed.

As a very public and prominent leader for the Light and Dark, however, the Keeper was a good target for those seeking to advance their cause. In order to ensure protection for the Keeper and the sword, Fate further instructed the mages to create and ally for the Keeper. The mages snared two immortal spirits and bound them to the swords. The power of these spirits was them bestowed upon a human warrior who became the Guardian, a creature far more powerful than any human, bound to the sword unto death, and sworn to protect the Keeper no matter what that may entail. The perfect ally: a strong warrior with only one focus. His human body can be killed, but the Guardian's spirit is immortal, so there is no fear of him dying in battle.

Now there was a leader in place, and the leader had protection, but this was not enough for Fate. Despite all her tampering, all those involved were still humans, and humans have a habit of altering even the best plans in strange ways. She did not trust everything in their care. She begged the help of two neutrals (being creatures that have no affiliation with the Light or Dark) to keep an eye on the situation. Two dragons, Chaerius and Sadryn, for reasons of their own, volunteered for this position. They were to be companions and advisors to the Keeper. Their place was not to fight, for dragons were very powerful, and this conflict was between humans, but rather they were to serve as Fate's voice to their charges.

For a time, Fate's plan worked out perfectly. The Keepers were chosen in such a way as to ensure that whichever side came out victorious, none of Her plans would be affected by it. However, the way it worked out, since leaders of the Dark tended to wish to effect changes that Fate did not want to happen, the Light won most of the conflicts, and in the years leading up to the chaos that erupted, the Light was victorious at every meeting.

The chaos that decended after the Light's long run as the victors came with one simple mistake. A servant of the Dark, in an attempt to thwart Fate, began a new conflict before Fate had designated for it to begin. This triggered a whole string of events outside of her control, and while the Light still came out victorious in the end, the Guardian of Light was killed, long before he was fated to die, and the new guardian, Ra'yl, was not only outside of the influence of Fate, but was too young and inexperienced to have to take on the responsibilities of Guardian.

Now the difficulties truly began, for the Light had a Guardian who was mostly outside of Fate's influence, and therefore her influence on the side of the Light as a whole was diminished. The Light managed to hold their own in the next conflict as well, and againg even after that, depending on the power that they had built up over the centuries of being dominant. However, it was that successful past itself which led to the Light's downfall.

Ra'grathon came into the hands of a new Keeper, a young lord who thought that since the Light had never been defeated that it could not lose. Usually, Fate avoided allowing either of the swords to fall to someone such as him, but with her influence for the Light diminishing, such mistakes were bound to happen. This Keeper was very arrogant and proud, and his arrogance led to carelessness. His flamboyance on the battlefield left him open to attack, and he was killed.

With his death, the Dark was now free to reign over the world, and they were more than prepared to do so. They knew that their rule would only last until the Light was to win against them again, and so, in order to prevent that from happening, they kept a careful watch over the entire world, watchful for any sign of the Light rising against them, and crushing it before it became a threat. In this way, they managed to maintain their power, and even gain a great deal more, keeping the Light at bay for longer than anyone would have dreamed possible…

…but for all their careful planning and attention to the details, they were unable to find the sword Ra’grathon, the key to the power of the Light. A simple, careless act of an underling allowed the sword to escape notice for years to come…

Years pass…

…centuries pass…

...more than a thousand years go by, and nothing changes…

The Dark has ruled the earth now for so long that their power has become rooted and deeply entrenched. Those that still follow the Light are few, and far between, and those who even remember what it had once been and once stood for are almost non-existent. However, in all that time, the world itself has changed. It is now in the future, where computers run everything, and all the ways of the past have long since been forgotten. This future world requires a new approach on a tale that spans centuries...

MAIN