More like echoes and reflections, I would call them. When Melchior first forged the 'Masamune', I do not think he crafted it as a smith in his smithy. Rather, though his mystical means, he almost partitioned it into differant 'colours', like laying out the colours of a colour scheme, all aspect of his own spirit. Masa was his strength and power, Mune his long-studied wisdom, and Doreen his compassion (mightiest, for Melchior as the Guru of life is more compassionate than all others of his order.) Now, this set the basic form of the weapon, and in this it is simply Masa, Mune, and Doreen. It is not a knife, not a sword, it is the three spirits. It can shift places in an instant, or cease to exist physically without suffering a loss of being. When one makes use of it, they make use of the Three in varying degrees, like an artist making use of a pallette of three colours. The amount of each determines the form of the outcome. Crono's will and might in attempting to overcome the Mammon machine - and presumably some measure of knowledge - made use of Masa and Mune. Compassion had no play, so Doreen remained absent (though not truly 'absent' as we understand it. She can be on the other side of a city, and yet still be present in the weapon.) Likewise all who strove against evil. In the end, though, it turned against itself by striving too mightily and at all costs, and abandoning compassion. Thus we come to Chrono Cross and the Mastermune, which finally makes use of all three spirits in a complete spectrum, as it were. But essentially, Melchior in fashioning the thing created Masa and Mune and Doreen as echoes of his own being, each a different aspect of his personality - this is the power of the Dreamstone, to bring into reality that which is hidden, and presumably the wisdom of that fabled smith Melchior knew how to unlock it. As another example, say you were to record your voice, or different aspects of your voice: whisper, normal, and yell. Someone then could come and piece it together in new ways, using the different pitches to make different outcomes of anger, or of fear, but you still set the basic form of it, and it is still your voice. The same goes with Masa and Mune to Melchior. And thus the Masamune to Melchior, for the Masamune is nothing but those three spirits. Anything else is just a physical illusion they create.
