Well, almost nothing.

Although primeval Man would not know of it for eons, the great black monolith left behind a treasure far greater than the knowledge to survive. It left behind the means to make the greatest weapon of all times. Of course, humankind did not even gain a knowledge of this until several centuries after speech was discovered. Even then, how could their primitive minds comprehend this incredible find...?

"Iko, look! I find strange stone!" Chief Iko of the Ioka Tribe made his way across the tiny wilderness to the calls of his daughter, the great- granddaughter of Chief Ioka who founded the Ioka Tribe. The young girl was holding an eerily colored stone, one that no human or reptite ever glanced at in history.

"What you find, Ayla?" asked Iko as he glanced at the rock.

"Ayla not know. Strange stone!" Iko took the rock in his hand and inspected it more.

"Iko dream about this kind of stone. Dream say, this stone save Ioka and Laruba from Azala!"

"Then Ayla name it Dreamstone! Maybe we throw it at Azala?"

"Iko not know. Iko say wait, see what happens."

"Ayla like stone. Can Ayla have?"

"Ayla can have. Take care of Dreamstone, Ayla. Maybe Ioka need it soon." So for many years, Ayla daughter of Chief Iko looked after the Dreamstone. Eventually, Ayla came of age and competed in the Great Competition, where it was to decide who the new chief of Ioka would be. Ayla won the title and fought off Azala's dreaded reptites for months, never needing the stone. Then one day, Ayla heard of reptites moving around in the Mystic Mountains. As usual, she went out to investigate, alone. There, she met some very peculiar creatures.

"Be careful, Crono. She is still agitated," warned the Different One. The female adjusted her glasses carefully while the male looked on in confusion. Ayla went up to investigate the trio, coming back quite impressed. "You strong. Ayla like!"

"I think she likes you, Crono," said the female.

"Crono? Nice name! Me? Me...me Ayla!" Ayla investigated the other two as well.

"You different...but strong too!"

"It's because I'm a robot."

"Raw-boot? What that?"

"It's a machine that looks like a man," replied the Rawboot.

"No more confusion or Ayla, head go boom!" Despite the group's slight distrust, Ayla invited the three to a celebration. There, she handed over half of the Dreamstone she found so many years earlier, and kept the other half just in case. Eventually her new friends left and Ayla continued to fight Azala for a while. In the months to come she finally defeated the reptite king, only to face a new challenge:

THE ICE AGE

The years came and went, and Ayla grew old and passed away. But the stone remained in the lineage of Chief. Eons later, the stone would face it's ultimate destiny...

"Why, what have we here?" asked Melchoir, the new Guru of Life. Before he made the long journey to the new kingdom, he and his three young friends had went on an excavation trip. They found little there, but it was Melchoir that discovered the strange stone.

"What is it Melchoir?"

"Take a look, Gaspar. It appears to be a stone of some sort, but of what kind is yet to be determined."

"What have you found, Melchoir?"

"Your majesty!" exclaimed the two. The Queen of Zeal was cradling her child, Schala, when she overheard Melchoir's discovery.

"It is a stone, the likes of which we have never seen before!" exclaimed Melchoir.

"Interesting. I permit you to take it, study it, and do with it as you please." The Queen stared at the stone, at it's incredible luster... "It would make a fine pendant for young Schala," noted Gaspar, "if it be the Queen's will."

"Why yes. Thank you, Gaspar. I'm sure Schala will enjoy it when she ages." The Queen and Gaspar left for the new kingdom of Zeal, trailed by Melchoir. Buried near the stone was a slab, that simply read:

"Dreamstone."

Nobody knew that the two creatures new to the palace had sent the monolith down. Monolith? What monolith? And nobody knew that they also attached a stone to it. Their stone. Their dream.

"Think they'll ever use it, big brother?"

"I don't know. Humans are so silly!"

"Indeed." Masa and Mune grinned at each other, unaware of the fate of their precious stone...

"This Ruby Knife was forged from the Dreamstone. It is the only weapon that can destroy the Mammon Machine!" It was also the last remaining scrap of Dreamstone. Melchoir, now an old man, had used nearly the last of his talents to forge the Dreamstone into the Ruby Knife. But at least the Queen's evil abominations will be stopped, he thought.

"Crono! Use the Knife!" The young lad thrust the Knife in the dreaded Machine, and the effect was spectacular:

The Masamune was at long last born.

Unfortunately, the Masamune disappeared with the mists of time. For Twelve Thousand Five-hundred ninety years it was lost to humankind, guarded by it's ever vigilant creators. Until one day, when a mysterious knight appeared...

"Whoa! Brother, he's good!"

"Yeah. It's not every day somebody bests us!"

"You think he should get it now?" asked Masa.

"Yeah, he deserves it. He fought the both of us all by himself!"

"Yeah. And I know he'll use it for good intentions!"

"Say, Knight! What's your name again?" asked Mune.

"I am Cyrus, Knight of the Square Table."

"Auuugh! Th-the Masamune!!" roared Cyrus painfully. With his General watching, the great Magus demonstrated his awesome powers, and blasted the Masamune in two. Unbeknownst to him, the two strange brothers from years past snatched up the blade of the sword, while Cyrus' friend Glenn found the hilt washed up on the shore, near the Hero's Medal. He stored it for ten years, never knowing he would need it again...

"Magus! Prepare to meet thy match!!" With those words, the Masamune went through one of it's greatest adventures ever. With the spirit and determination of Glenn the frog warrior, Masamune helped slay Lavos, the beast that forced Masa and Mune out of their world. Lavos was destroyed, and the Masamune was again watched over by Glenn and his trusted friends. Not surprisingly, the blade would be needed again, very very soon...

When the ancient Glenn passed away, his friends felt that he should be buried with both the Hero's Medal and the Masamune. But before that happened, a great and powerful dragon presented itself and stole the blade. The dragon, otherwise known as Tiamat, stored the blade in a great temple, and positioned herself so that nobody would steal her precious Masamune without confronting her first. However, Tiamat was completely destroyed by the Light Warriors and the possession of the Masamune went to them. It was this sword that slew another evil, the creature known as CHAOS. With CHAOS defeated the Light Warriors disposed of most of their weapons, except for the Excalibur and the Masamune. They kept these swords until they met two creatures from the moon, FuSoYa and KluYa. The one known as KluYa was entrusted with the Excalibur and FuSoYa was given the Masamune. In order to prevent the Masamune from falling into the wrong hands, FuSoYa gave the sword over to the most powerful creature in the Lunar's Lair, Ogodepogo.

Eventually, KluYa entrusted the Excalibur to his son Cecil. Ogodepogo met his match as well when Cecil and his friends journeyed to the Lunar's Lair and bested the guardian. With the Masamune in good hands again, evil was heading down a steep slope. The Masamune, possessed only by an Eblan Prince named Edge, helped hit the critical blows in the war against Zemus. Again, the Masamune had slain evil, and afterwards, was once again lost in the mists of time.

To this day, nobody knows how Alfred Shinra found the Masamune. However, most rumors state he discovered it in an excavation tour. No matter how he did it, Alfred Shinra knew he was possessing a weapon of great destructive power, even in that day and age. But unfortunately, Alfred was aging in years, and his son was a weakling who strived on money too much. Would his grandson Rufus one day wield the blade? No, it was too soon to tell. Alfred took the Masamune and boarded his personal helicopter back to Midgar. He entrusted the sword to a promising young scientist named Gast, and then went back to his house in Costa Del Sol.

As a token of partnership, Professor Gast gave the Masamune to a trusted colleague, Lucrecia. Lucrecia didn't know what to do with it, so she gave it to Hojo, one of her friends.

The years passed by. Lucrecia bore a son and named him Sephiroth, because on that day she had felt strange powers coming from beyond, an archaic translation of "sephiroth". Young Sephiroth grew up a good child, although a child that received little love in the Shinra lab. The common faces: Hojo, the President, Lucrecia, the young trainee Tseng, they all bored him...except for Gast, who was almost like a father to young Sehpiroth.

Eventually, Sephiroth began toying with his father's stuff. While exploring a secret compartment, Sephiroth stumbled upon his destiny: The Masamune.

Young Sephiroth became symbiotic with the blade almost instantly. At seventeen he wielded the great sword with a skill better than that of a First Class SOLDIER. At nineteen, he joined SOLDIER and almost instantly rose to the ranks of "best of the best". Sephiroth and Masamune traveled everywhere, and slew many evils. Yes, they were quite a team, until one day, when the Masamune decided it could take no more.

Sephiroth had already killed too many innocent people, and now here he was, on the brink of becoming God. The Masamune silently summoned a youth by the name of Cloud, and fusing it's power in him (in more ways than one), Cloud was able to overthrow Sephiroth, taking Jenova and the Masamune blade with it.

Nobody knows what happened to the Masamune after that. Some say the sword carried by Sephiroth clone 1 is just as phony as the clone himself. Others say it's the real thing, and that it was rescued by it's creators, the brothers Masa and Mune. Still others say the Masamune lies dormant somewhere, waiting for a time when it can be used by the hands of good once again. Until that time, the secret of the Masamune must be kept as silent at the sword itself......

THE END