Once, there was a Blaze of Disaster that stained Filgaia with its crimson flames.... The flames from the earth scorched the heavens. The blazing whirlwinds threatened to consume the very future of the planet. Mankind clung to its only hope of surviving this life-or-death crisis: the Sword Magess. Born as the daughter of a nameless petty nobleman, she was drawn to the call of the Guardian Blade named "Argetlahm." With no way to fight, the people cast their hopes on the Magess' sword and believed in the future.

The night of the seventh day after obtaining the sword - wrapped in a torrent of light, the Magess vanished from Filgaia together with the Blaze of Disaster, leaving behind Argetlahm plunged deep in the earth....

- Time passed. The Guardian Blade Argetlahm began to be treated as a symbol of power. The battle of the Sword Magess remained in the hearts of the people as a familiar, ubiquitous legend. But the people had no reason to think that their familiar legends of the past would have meaning in the present - and in the future.

-- from: Wild Arms 2 manual