001| [Action]
[When Asch first saw the music box, he'd assumed it belonged to that woman. He'd examined it for a moment, and then, on a fleeting impulse, had turned the key.]
[A familiar melody drifted out of the ornamental box. A song Asch had overheard Van singing long ago in the cathedral. Lights flickered in his mind's eye - a scene of charging knights with swords, shields and banners raised. They weren't Kimlascan or from Malkuth; the colors were all wrong. They weren't even Oracle Knights. In fact, it almost looked like a scene out of a storybook. Was he dreaming? In the distance, a company veered, all riding unusual creatures with long manes and sharp hooves. The soldiers flanked a princess on a white steed as she thundered across the field, kicking up grass and clover. She looked an awful lot like--]
[He couldn't tell. The sun got in his eyes, forcing him to blink.]
[Two heavy footsteps echo in The Golden Entranceway as Asch recovers from a wave of vertigo. He immediately begins forcing himself to wakefulness, one hand reaching automatically for the hilt of the Maestro Sword. A quick survey of the area tells him enough - unknown location, staircase, unusual architecture...]
(What if...? No.)
[Asch shakes his head to clear it and grunts in frustration. Stay calm and focus! This is nothing. Just another unexpected test, just another improbable event, just another day in his own personal nightmare. He can handle it. He's handled everything else up until now. Well hasn't he? Straightening, he proceeds carefully down the stairs.]
Tch...! This again...