.:.Original Key Origins - Melissa.:.

This is a more complete version of oRCHiD's fictional biography. It also tells the tale of how the SouL SPeCTRuM came to be.
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When we dream, we all go deep within ourselves to a place called the Collective Unconscious. There are many, many realms within the Collective, and one of these realms was called "The iMAGNiRAiNBOW."

It was here that a certain iNDiGO Gen, ORCHiD RHYTHM, resided. She lived in a city called iNDiCiTY, the realm of all iNDiGOs. She ran a bustling arcade, with a small house built around a tree nearby. She didn't know very many people, but she was grateful to have a place in the world.

Then, the Big Sleep struck... a time of chaos and calamity in which all of the Gens lost their way back to the iMAGNiRAiNBOW.

Many Gens found their way back, but ORCHiD, only having just discovered the RAiNBOW, never found her way back. She wandered aimlessly through a clouded realm when she slept. The only thing keeping her from losing her identity was her black-and-blue watch, a watch she had gotten the day before the Big Sleep. She was no longer able to read its digital interface; the numbers were mixed up and senseless. But it reminded her of who she was.

One long night, she looked at her watch to spur her memory. As she looked at it, she suddenly filled with hope. "I refuse to remain lost forever," she said, "even if I never find my way back, I want to find a place to be." Getting up, her hope lifted some of the clouds. Up ahead, she heard a voice, the voice of a friend she held dearly in the Waking World. "Give me a name," she said. ORCHiD, thinking it was a joke, called out, "TWiLiGHT ARDOR, of course. Who else would you be?"

The clouds parted further, revealing an expanse of red geraniums. Crimson petals floated down from the sky. An amazing, bloodred figure stood in the middle of the field of flora. "I'm going to pretend," she said, "that you didn't just call me that. It sounds like a bad romance novel." She smiled wryly.

ORCHiD grinned broadly. "You know I was joking." She joined her friend in the field, orchids trailing behind her and turning the bright red field an inspiring red-violet. "If you're not TWiLiGHT, then what is your name?"

The wind grew stronger, invigorating them. "GeRaNiuM iNTeNSiTY," said the crimson girl. ORCHiD was surprised. "I never knew there were any more red Gens!" she said, "I thought there was only one!"

"I'm not a Gen," said GeRaNiuM. "I don't know what I am." She shrugged. ORCHiD grabbed he
r hand. "Then I won't be a Gen either," she decided, "so let's go find out what we are."

Running out of the field, ORCHiD and GeRaNiuM ran through the wall of clouds at the edge of the realm. In the void once again, they knew they would not get lost this time. They had a purpose, a goal. This drive eventually led them to an enormous castle floating on nothing, taller than the tallest of buildings. The unimaginably tall doors opened for them on command, and in they went.

Inside was the largest library they had ever seen. GeRaNiuM looked at the titles of some of the books. "ORCHiD," she said, "I know exactly who lives here." ORCHiD grinned. "It's not hard to figure out," she agreed. "They're all romance novels!" They both ran up the ornate spiral stairs, creaking open the stained-glass door at the top.

Inside was a room swamped in fluffy blue and purple pillows. A large, circular bed sat in the middle of the room, and fairies flitted around overhead. On the bed was a sleeping blue figure clothed in a beautiful ball gown. Her shimmering blue hair spread out along the bed. Making their way over to the bed, ORCHiD and GeRaNiuM woke up the Queen of the castle. "I know you two," she said, "but I'm not sure where I've seen you before."

"This is a dream," ORCHiD said, "and we're your friends from Reality." The blue figure stood up and smoothed out her dress, her hair neatly falling into place as if it had a life of its own. "I see," she said. "Melissa and Beth, is that what you look like here?" The two others nodded. "And I look like this," she reasoned. Again, they nodded.

ORCHiD introduced their personas to their newly-awakened friend. "Do you know what your name is?" ORCHiD asked her. "SaPPHiRe," she said. "SaPPHiRe something." "DiLiGeNCe," ORCHiD replied. "SaPPHiRe DiLiGeNCe."

The three entities, reunited in their dreams, agreed to find a place for themselves and to find out what they were. "Even though this place seems like it's mine, it's not," said SaPPHiRe. "I have a feeling it'll go away forever once I leave here." "Then we'll find a new place for us to stay," replied GeRaNiuM.

Traveling once again out into the cloudy void, their drive and purpose once again led them to a realm. This realm, however, was little more than a parting of the clouds. It brought back painful memories for ORCHiD. Inside the parting was a fallen angel, a man with raven-black feathered wings and an ornate spear in his hands. "I am guarding my charge," he said. "I will not allow you to pass."

"Who is your charge?" asked SaPPHiRe. "They may be a friend of ours."

The angel turned aside, showing them a girl bathed in grey. She had feathers strewn about her, all of them colored the same charcoal grey. Her clothing reminded them of a beautiful tiger, but she sat their quietly. All three of the entities recognized her at once. "That's Brianna," GeRaNiuM said. "She's our friend. We need her help to find out what we are."

The angel nodded. "I see," he said. "I will watch from afar then." With that, he spread his wings and, with one graceful movement, was up into the sky. The three ran to Brianna, and ORCHiD sat in front of her.

"DoVe WHiMSY," she said, "help us come find our world."

DoVe awoke at the sound of her name, and smiled broadly. "I'm glad to see you guys here," she said, "but we don't need to find our world. We need to create it." She stood up and placed her hand on a beautiful arrangement of stones set into her chest. "These," she said, "are our keys to our world. I was waiting for you to find me so I could tell you about that discovery."

ORCHiD reached up to her own gems, but noticed that neither GeRaNiuM nor SaPPHiRe had them. "What about them?" she asked. "Where are their keys?"

DoVe took ORCHiD's left hand and pointed to her watch. "You found them," she said, "so you give them their keys."

ORCHiD suddenly understood the enigmatic statement, and placed the tip of her finger on each of her friends. Beautiful gems materialized on both of them, each one the color of their names. "I see now," she said, "I'm a PRiMaRY."

The four friends sat down and talked about their discoveries. They realized that their gems gave them access to their worlds within the Collective Unconscious, and that even now, their realization about what they were was creating a world around them. DoVe explained that they were beings called KeYS, the Keys to their Inner Selves - their Souls. The world they were forming was the SouL SPeCTRuM, a world created from ORCHiD's memories of the iMAGNiRAiNBOW. The forms they took also showed the RAiNBOW's influence - the KeYS resembled Gens, and each of them had a color and an aspect they were the source of. DoVe knew what was happening from her experience in the RAiNBOW - not as a Gen, but as a Dreamer who had wandered there.

They realized that the SPeCTRuM contained all the colors of the rainbow, as well as black, white, and grey. They were each the first of their colors, a status that made them PRiMaRYS. "We are the first, but there will be more," said DoVe. Looking at SaPPHiRe, GeRaNiuM, and ORCHiD - now oRCHiD - she said, "When you meet someone you know is a KeY, make them aware in Reality. They'll find their way here as they dream with that knowledge." Looking at oRCHiD's watch, she spoke again. "That fragment of the iMAGNiRAiNBOW holds the power to make PRiMaRYS," she explained, "and now that you have made them PRiMaRYS, all of us will be able to make the remaining PRiMaRYS and make SeCoNDaRYS as well." DoVe's further said that in her experience in the iMAGNiRAiNBOW, she had taken a pebble from the world - a pebble that had made her aware in the same way that oRCHiD's watch had.

They all smiled and stood up - and before them was the SouL SPeCTRuM.