Arthur's POV:

Standing in front of an open window in one of the castle's halls, I look down below at where three of my four protégés are speaking with a few of the Elvin guards. They are probably trying to enlist the guards' help for the coming battle. The battle that we are doomed to lose, if the Warrior of the Stars does not return soon.

Nervous, I begin to pace back and forth. I worry about all four of my protégés often. Guinevere has never been able to have children, so these four are like my sons. I am very proud of what each of them has grown into, and look forward to seeing what the years to come shall bring for them all.

They all seem wise and mature far beyond their years in many ways. The one who is oldest among them, Nonsurat, is only two-hundred and twenty-eight years old, and Meta Knight, the youngest, is only two-hundred and twenty-one. They seem old in some ways because of what they have all had to go through, but in truth, their journeys of life have just begun. They all have almost three-quarters of their lives left, they are still quite young by Star Warrior standards.

And I...? I am around five-hundred and eighty years young. Like many Star Warriors who make it this long, I no longer keep track of my exact age. When you have been around as long as I have, a single year makes little difference. A whole decade doesn't even feel like all that much time, either.

I was born in the early 250's, during the heat of war, in Courage Province. Courage Province is a prairie-filled area, where much of Star World's food is grown in the rich, moist, dark soil. But always, much of the prairie is left alone to grow as it wishes with lush grasses, wildflowers, and the occasional tree.

My father, Orion, was seldom at home, usually off fighting for freedom somewhere in the Galaxy, or so we were told. My mother Twill and I lived alone together in a small house in our small town, Prairieflower Village. She was a weaver, both of cloth and of stories. I learned many things from the tales she told me, but my favorites were the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of The Round Table. Whenever I had free time, I could be found in our spacious backyard, dueling imaginary monsters with my twig-sword Excalibur. I recruited several neighborhood boys to be my playmates, they were Galahad, Lancelot, and the other Knights. I was always King Arthur, ruler of the land and leader of the Knights. I was never bossy, and so the others were always willing to play along.

My childhood name, though, was actually Alistair, a name from an Ancient language known as Gaelic. It meant 'one who defends.' It was a name that I hoped to live up to one day, a name that I planned to keep my whole life, even after I had earned my name.

As time went on, I grew. There was a young girl that I spent much of my time with, her childhood name was Sunflower. She was a very light pink, with eyes the color of the stars. The two of us were the best of friends, I spent more time with her than with any of my 'Knights.' Occasionally, I would get her to play with us, and she would always be Guinevere. (Never was there anything 'mushy,' of course. She was just my right-hand knight. My younger self would have shuddered at the thought of her playing as my queen. She was a girl, a mostly-disgusting species, after all, to a little boy anyway, even if she was my favorite companion. I chuckle at the memory.)

About the time I turned eight, I started to learn how to actually use a weapon in school. The teachers let us try several different things, but most of us already knew what we were good at from playing with the Copy Abilities. In those times, everyone knew that they were going to grow up to join the army, so were encouraged to train ourselves in our play. Never was I or my friends discouraged from our adventurous escapades of 'knighthood' and 'honor,' for they were helping to prepare us for the time to come.

Whereas that situation was better in those times, no sheltering children from everything that had to do with war, there were other problems. For example, the war was glorified to some extent. Oh, everyone knew that some of the soldiers died, but when they did, they earned their families glory and honor. Every young child looked forward to the day when they could become a victor in their own right, go kill a few monsters and become a hero. That was what we were all destined to become, was heroes and victors. Sure, some of us would not make it. But most of us would, or so we were told. And each and every one of us thought we would be one of the ones that stayed safe and unharmed. I always fondly hoped that I could one day earn the title of sergeant or something, become one of the lower-ranking leaders, for I enjoyed leading. I enjoyed defending. I was the 'one who defends,' after all. I was Alistair, and I was going to defend my home, my planet, my companions, my Galaxy. That was my plan for my life.

But alas, that was not what the Star Power intended for me, at least not the way I wished for it to go. About the time I was seven, we stopped receiving news about Orion. My mother was heartbroken, for Orion had been her true love, 'her guiding star,' as it were. About the same time, a warrior known as Solar was made the new head general. Everyone spoke of how great he was, of how he had some sort of light he could make that was rumored to shine brighter than a hundred suns, of how he was also a Light sorcerer. Then, when I was eleven, Nightmare attacked our town, which had heretofore been a peaceful and untouched place, but he left it in ruins.

While the attack was happening, I and my ragtag group of 'Knights,' 'Lady Guinevere' included, was out on the prairie, scaring up the prairie chickens and gophers so we could defend the 'helpless and innocent' from them. But suddenly, one of our number, a brown boy with red eyes with the childhood name Scout, a ten-year-old who indeed played as our scout, shouted out in distress from the tall stone he stood on that reached above the tall grasses, "Prairieflower Village is under attack! Nightmare's burning it!"

With a chorus of horrified gasps, we all clambered up to join him. He was right, our town was burning down into the ground, into ashes.

"What do we do?" another boy, (Galahad when in character but actually Pond by childhood name, being a medium blue with grass-green eyes, he was the youngest, being only seven,) wondered in fear, his voice cracking.

Somewhere inside of me, there was a whisper. Even though I was terrified, this whisper filled me with bravery, with courage to face the coming trial. "The monster is coming for us now," I said calmly as a giant snake that was covered in flames came slithering out of the ruins and straight towards us. "No one could possibly have survived that attack, we're all it has left to deal with."

Scared, Sunflower (who was nine at the time) hid behind me and wondered, "What do we do, Alistair? We can't fight that. Should we just let it finish its job?"

I was silent for a moment as 'Lancelot,' an orange boy with blue eyes who was actually known as Archer, eight years of age, cried out, "The fire is spreading to the prairie! We're doomed, either the monster'll get us or we'll be burned in a prairie fire!"

Suddenly, I drew the small practice sword that I carried. It was dull when compared to a regular sword, but it was what I had. Scared, Sunflower and Pond followed my lead, while Archer readied his bow and rounded-tip arrows and Scout picked up his dulled axe. Play weapons, that's all they were. But it was all we had, and we were going to do our best with them. I was the only one who even had magic gloves, the others all only had paws.

Pointing my sword courageously to the sky, I cried out to the monster, "We are Star Warriors and heroes! We fight for all that is good and Light! Maybe our destiny has arrived early, but we always knew it would one day come! We will fight you to the death, you foul beast!" My group of fellow young warriors cheered out behind me in agreement. We were all terrified even if we were acting brave, but who could blame us? It hadn't really set in yet, but we all already knew that our small group was all we had left. We ranged in age from seven to eleven, only children, one of us not even old enough to actually take weapons classes at school.

With a shriek of evil laughter, the monster slithered quickly over and coiled itself into a large circle around us, setting fire to the grass at the edges, which began to burn its way to us. "Little children, little children," it hissed in a terrifying and sickening voice. "Which one shall I eat first?" It was terrible, it almost seemed like it was singing us an evil, twisted lullaby.

Pond saw a puddle that none of the rest of us had noticed and inhaled the water, gaining the Water Ability. He used this to put the fire out around us, and then proceeded to attack the monster. The rest of us inhaled our weapons so that we'd actually have something useful to fight with, except for Scout, who inhaled some rocks and gained Stone, for there is no Axe Ability, at least not to my knowledge.

Shouting out bravely again, the crowd of us children attacked the monster, me in the lead. In anger, the monster slammed down into the ground, making a huge chasm that separated Sunflower, Pond and I from the others. Sunflower slipped down the edge and began to fall in, but I grabbed her paw at the last second, leaving her dangling out over nothing.

"Alistair!" she shouted out, frozen with fear. I was terrified, too. She was my best friend. I had already lost my mother, I had never really known my father before he had disappeared, I could not stand to lose her as well. Again, I found strength inside me that I didn't know I had, again starting out as naught but a whisper. With a great heave, I pulled her out of the chasm. Bravely, we all turned and began attacking the monster again from both sides of the long and deep hole.

I still to this day do not know how we managed it, but we did. The monster was defeated by a disorganized group of children and the help of the Star Power.

In sorrow, we made the short trek back to town and looked at the desolation. Pond and Sunflower were the only ones to cry, the rest of us were too 'old' for such matters. But yet, we were all filled with a heartache that no child should ever have to feel.

Clearing my throat so I could speak past the lump that was in it, I announced, "Well, we should probably try to find some real weapons and some armor. We're going to need it."

All of us knew where the extra armor and weapons were kept, buried outside of town where the survivors of an event like this could get to them. Working long into the night, we managed to dig up each of our families' chests and get them open.

Inside Pond's was a gray cape and a plain silver mask with a round eyepiece, and a pair of gray metal boots, also a silver sword. They were all a little bit big for him, but they worked.

Archer got a red cloak and matching metal shoes, along with a good bow and a quiverful of arrows.

Sunflower found a light blue silken cape and a pair of blue leather shoes, neither of which would offer much protection but were better than nothing. Also, she received a light blue magic-glass sword. It was not a star sword, so it didn't have any special powers, but it was still a magnificent blade.

Scout found a real axe and a brown cloak, along with a plain silver mask that was almost exactly like Pond's, and a pair of brown armored boots.

And I...? Well, all that I had in my family chest was a golden cape and a simple silver sword, which I immediately dubbed Excalibur for old times' sake. The cape I put on, and then I turned to the others, who had also all found basic pairs of white magic gloves. "Well. That's that, then. We need to find shelter."

They all nodded. Whereas we never officially discussed it or declared it, I immediately became the leader.

Time passed. We wandered from village to village, doing small jobs and monster extermination in exchange for food and shelter. Pond was the first of us to go. Being the youngest, this new kind of nomadic and lonely life was not easy for him at all. Just like the Galahad of legend, he was too pure and true for this world, and so he was taken by illness during our first winter alone. Our hearts ached even more at his loss than at the loss of our homes and families, for he had been one of the few things that we had had left to us to love. Even I wept as we all gave him his final salute, swords and axe and bow in the air, pointed towards the cold winter stars. Only eight years of age, and he had already proved himself to be a true warrior countless times.

The Galaxy lost a small but bright Light that day, and like whenever a Star Warrior passes, a new star appeared in the sky that night. I don't know if anyone besides me has ever noticed that, but it should be obvious. Whenever there was a terrible battle during either of the wars, there were hundreds of new stars in the sky the night after, or for those in space, immediately after. From the stars we came, and to the stars we return. It has always given me hope, to know that all of the allies and friends I have lost still shine up there, still give their Light to the Galaxy, so that it may never truly grow Dark no matter how deep the night may grow, no matter how thick the clouds of Darkness become in their attempts to block them out.

A couple of years later, another monster found us, bound to finish the job his predecessor had failed to complete to Nightmare's satisfaction. He got Scout, but none of the rest of us. The monster was destroyed just as the first.

But besides Scout's loss, there is another reason I remember that battle. Being smarter than the first serpent, this one opened a chasm directly beneath where Sunflower and I were standing back-to-back, defending each other. As we fell, we both thought we were coming to the end.

There is a common misconception among all species in the Galaxy that Dimensional Capes and Cloaks can only be received as they already are. Some sorcerers make them, some receive them from the Star Power as a reward for bravery or as a tool to be used in their part in his plan. But this assumption is entirely incorrect. Sometimes, when a warrior is in a time of great need, a pair of wings will break forth from the most common of cloth, the fabric having been granted Dimensional powers by the Star Power.

This was one of those times.

Out of nowhere, Sunflower's cape exploded into a pair of light blue angel's wings, while mine suddenly burst into being a set of pure white bat's wings. Using our new abilities of flight, we soared up and defeated the monster, saving Archer from an untimely end.

That night, Sunflower (who was fourteen, then,) was absent-mindedly turning her cape back and forth while we all three talked about Scout. I, however, (sixteen by then,) felt ashamed of my wings. I had heard from many people that a Star Warrior's wings are a reflection of their inner soul, who they really are. I now know that this is not always true. But, I thought, if I had bat's wings, what did that say about who I was? What did that say about who I was destined to become? Of course, Meta Knight is one of the truest warriors I know, and he has black bat's wings yet is pure in soul, so it is silly of me to think that my wings reflect my soul. But even to this day, I am not fond of my wings, even if they no longer bring me shame.

"Alistair?" Sunflower suddenly asked, coming over and sitting closer to me. She and I were still the best of friends, nothing more.

"Yes, Sunflower?" I replied, not looking up from my sword, which I was busily polishing with the edge of my cape so I'd have an excuse to not 'show off' my new wings, which Archer was extremely jealous of.

Sounding sad and afraid, she murmured, "Do you think Nightmare's going to eventually get rid of all of us, like he wants to so bad?"

My heart sank, for what can you say in reply to that when you think that it is the inevitable, but you do not wish to discourage your fellow warrior? "I don't know, Sunny," I finally answered with a sigh, putting my sword down and looking up into the stars. "It all depends on what the Star Power has planned for us. But I promise you," I turned to her and took one of her gloves in mine, "that I will do everything in my power to keep all of us safe."

"Her especially," Archer snickered, then shut up as we both gave him a glare. If looks could kill... I chuckle again, remembering it. Even during my most trying times, there have been good moments. Along with the bad, the Star Power also always gives us some good, if we are only willing to accept and acknowledge it.

Again, years passed. Archer left us when he turned sixteen to get a job in some small town, saying that being a warrior was not what he wanted to do his whole life, as abnormal as that was for that time. We wished that his days would be filled with Light, and that the Star Power would guide him, and then never saw him again. I have always wondered what fate befell him, whether he was destroyed or if he settled down, got married, and raised a family. I suppose it is not important, but I still wonder. He was a faithful ally and a good friend, and I remember him fondly, with no hard feelings over his departure.

As soon as Sunflower turned eighteen the two of us joined the army, just as we had always planned to. We flew right through training at the Star Warrior Academy even faster than the average new enlister, for we had already been fighting our own smaller war for the past nine years. We were so impressive that we were given an audience with the head general. But oh, how unpleasant that turned out to be for me.

As he glanced up from the two lieutenant generals he was observing as they dueled, General Solar turned to us to greet us, but both his and my jaws dropped when we saw each other. I looked just like I had as a child, only taller and stronger, and he looked just like he had the few times I had seen him.

"Father?" I gasped, then grew angry. "Why were you never there? Do you have any idea how much Mother missed you?"

"Alistair? Ye are alive?" he murmured in amazement. "I thought ye were killed in the attack on Prairieflower Village, years ago!"

"Well, you obviously didn't care too much, seeing as how you didn't come looking," I glared at him. "Do you have any idea what I have been through since that attack, how much easier it would have been if I knew you were still out here? I thought you died years ago, for we never received news of Orion after about the time I turned seven. So you took the name Solar instead, eh? Hid from your own wife and son?"

"Alistair, he's the head general," Sunflower reminded me in embarrassment. "Have some respect!"

"He is quite all right, my dear," he smiled at her in the smooth and gentlemanly way that I quickly grew to detest. "He is quite all right. My apologies, Alistair, for not visiting more often. I had a war to attend to, ye know."

"Of course you did," I agreed in cold politeness, eyes narrowed.

With a bright smile, he nodded and announced, "Seeing as how you are both so exemplary, I wish to make you also two of my lieutenant generals. Do either of you wish to change your name?"

"No," I said at first, but then thought about it. I wasn't Alistair, the hero I had always wanted to be. I was, rather, the boy who had grown up alone with his small group of 'Knights,' the one who had grown into a leader. I was Arthur, that was who I had become. "Actually, General, I would like to be known as Arthur."

"Very good, very good, that is the perfect name for thee," he nodded at me in a distant fashion, obviously actually unable to care less. He then turned to Sunflower. "And what about thee, my dear?"

With a smile directed at me, she declared, "If he is Arthur, then I am Guinevere."

With a knowing smile from him and a surprised stare from me, she nodded happily at us both.

"Sounds good to me, my dear. I am afraid that our visit must be cut short, for I need ye both to go out and join the fight," Solar told us with a firm nod, handing us our deployment papers. "Good luck to ye both." That was my first hint that he was not the shining sun he seemed to be, for a true Star Warrior would have sent us off with 'May your days be filled with Light, and may the Star Power guide you.' A true warrior knows there is no such thing as 'luck.'

"Why do they not need to join the fight?" I questioned tersely, gesturing with my head toward the other two lieutenant generals not far off. Come to think of it, I never even learned their names, neither do I know their fates.

"Oh, they will soon," he assured us with another too-bright-to-be-believable smile.

Growing suspicious, I murmured as I walked off, "Hm."

After we had left, Guinevere and I both looked at our papers. We were being sent to opposite sides of our piece of the Galaxy. I had never guessed that was going to happen, I had completely assumed that we would remain together, seeing as how we had made it clear all the way through training that we were a fighting pair. But alas, Solar had other plans, it seemed. My dislike for him grew ever stronger, and it didn't help that it seemed like everyone else thought that he could do no wrong.

The thought of being separated from her filled me with sadness. She had been my constant companion from my early childhood, my ally and my backup for the past nine years. She was my best friend, the one who knew me better than any other, the one who I would trust with anything, even my life. She was Sunflower, my Guinevere, and I had always taken her for granted, thinking she would always be there, no matter who else in my life came and went. I thought of all of the times we had fought together, laughed together, cried together, fallen asleep sitting next to each other, my wing curled snugly around her to keep her warm. I had always thought of her as only a friend, but now that I was faced with the reality of her being taken from me and the chance that I would never see her again, it made me realize that she was far, far more than that.

And so she has been, even to this very day. I am so blessed that she and I were both spared, both allowed to survive. We have been married for five-hundred years now, having celebrated our anniversary quite recently. Yes, we were not able to marry until I was over eighty, but that is to be gotten to later. I am getting far too far ahead of myself, my apologies.

The next day, I escorted her to her starship that was taking her to a base far away. "Take care, Gwen," I told her with a small smile.

"You too, Arty," she murmured back quietly.

We just stood there for a moment, neither one saying anything. "Well, I should probably go," she finally sighed softly.

I was frozen for another moment, but then I took her face in my gloves and kissed her gently. It only lasted a second, but it was a kiss that we would both carry with us for decades before we saw each other again. "I love you, my Guinevere. Be safe."

"Of course, my Arthur. I love you, too. May your days be filled with Light, and may the Star Power guide you," she replied with a sad half-smile, then slowly backed away, finally turning around and boarding her starship. If I had had any idea how long it was going to be before I saw her again, I would not have let her go or would have at least gone with her, hang Solar's displeasure. He was never happy with me anyway, no matter what I did.

Later that day, I boarded my own starship, bound for my own destiny. Even then, I still had some sort of delusion that war was going to be an adventure, something to be looked forward to. Even after the time I had spent fighting monsters and running from Nightmare with my 'Knights,' I still felt like war wasn't going to be all that bad.

Oh, how wrong, how very wrong I was...

To be continued.

(I'm thinking Arthur's story is going to be two parts long, but it might even stretch over into three. 'Why are you giving him so long of a backstory?' you ask. Well, short answer is because he's awesome, and therefore deserves an awesome backstory. Plus, he's more than twice as old as the other Sirs, so he's got more than twice as much story to tell. I hope you guys enjoy this, even if it is sad. That's the awesomest thing about Sir Arthur. Time and war has beat him around, but he's never given up hope or faith. Even in his darkest moments, he has never despaired.

In the Arthur gang, there's the daredevil who didn't take the threat of Nightmare seriously, (Falspar,) the one who knew Nightmare was coming but was slipping into despair because he thought that he was the only one left who knew the truth, (Dragato,) the one who was evil and cared for no one but himself but was converted to the truth, (Nonsurat,) and the one who fell to the side of Darkness for a short time but eventually was brought back to the truth, and went on to leave behind and lose everything and everyone he ever loved, becoming a loner, because trying to save the Galaxy from Darkness was more important to him than anything else. (Meta Knight.)

The Careless, the Despairer, the Convert, and the Devout.

And then there's Arthur... but we'll get back to him in a moment.

Sakura isn't part of the Arthur gang (*cough* yet *coughcough*) but she's had her own journey. She's the one that was chosen to be a part of the Star Power's plans, but wasn't sure if it was actually happening, since she 'wasn't a Star Warrior.' Even after she became a Star Warrior, she didn't swear to follow the code of honor, just kinda sorta followed it and knew it when it suited her, casting it off when she didn't want it anymore. But then, she realized what she had done, and that she needed (and still needs) the Star Power, and so repented and agreed to follow the code of honor to the best of her ability. She was the Complacent at first, but she's slowly but surely becoming Devout, just like the others have all become over time.

And Kirby... Kirby has the faith of a child. Kirby is what the others should wish to be like. He doesn't completely understand the idea of the Star Power yet, but he's willing to let himself be guided, trusting that he'll be taken care of wherever he goes, no matter what sort of villains he has to face along the way. He lives to take care of all of the others, to save everyone from evil and every advance of Darkness. Kirby is the Faithful.

And that's what Arthur is too. No matter what happens, no matter what he is brought to, no matter what sorrows darken his path, he trusts that there's a reason and a purpose for his being tested. He knows that he's following a road not of his own design, that he's being led, and that as long as he's following the Star Power, he'll be able to lead the others well.

Kirby and Arthur are alike in a lot of ways, in that sense anyway. Thankfully, Kirby has never (and never will) have to know the kind of sorrow and pain that Arthur has experienced. So, yeah, might've just given very minor spoilers there, but hey. At least now you know that there's not gonna be anything too dark or sad as we go on. XP

This book has been (and is going to continue to be) the saddest and, well, darkest book I've written so far. I'm dealing with pretty big issues like 1) scientific humaneness or absence thereof 2) being forced to be without the ones you love for a long time, in a strange place, without things that you've always taken for granted 3) the final battle between good and evil, etc., etc.

I promise that it's going to stay PG rated, and that I'm not gonna get too dark, but like I said, this is more serious than anything that I've ever done before, so I apologize for that. I promise that next book we'll have a lighter adventure. I'm thinking about doing something that flows like a video game again, like I did with KatML. That was fun and light-hearted, and after this book, fun and light-hearted sounds really great. I am really enjoying writing this, but like I said, it's sad and sorta dark. So, I'm sorry for that.

Anyway, sorry for the crazy-long author's note. (XD I'm sorry for a lot of things, aren't I? Sorry about that... :P) This is almost like a blog post, XD! Also, if you don't like the kinda religious aspects of my story, you can just ignore them and stick around for the adventure and swords and such, although I hope that my stories are helping to bring some Light into this Dark world. I'm not going to say I'm sorry for writing it this way, cause booyah, I'm not! (Look! Something that I'm not sorry for! XP)

Thanks for reading, you guys are all awesome. Stick around for more adventures and swords and such!

(Also, if any of you ever think I'm overdoing it when it comes to the romance aspects of my story, please shoot me a PM. I'm still learning this whole writing thing, and I've never been in a romantic relationship, so all I know about love comes from observing my parents, (they have the sweetest love story, which I want to make into a story of its own right someday,) and from books and movies. So, like I said, if the romance is ever too much of a distraction from the core story, let me know, because this book is FanFiction first, Fantasy second, Sci-Fi third, (although this book is a bit more sci-fi than the other Heroes of Dreamland books,) and Romance last. I have the romance in there to add to the story, not to take away from it. Thanks, guys. Remember, constructive criticism only, please! :) ))