Here's a story I'm working on. I haven't actually worked on it in a long time, so I've only got 4 chapters done so far, but you can read the rest on my deviantart page. I'm hoping to publish this, but I need to make it better. What do you guys think? I know it needs work, and actually I have someone who's helping me, but I haven't gotten to revision yet. I'm still working out the kinks with my characters. _______________________________________________________________________________ Spoiler: chatper 1 The Brightest Light Chapter 1 Prologue Hello, my name is Akarui Mizuiro. To whomever discovers this letter, brace yourself about what you are about to read. Much of this story may seem impossible, yet it is all true. Do not think this is a silly prank letter, because the world needs to know about the events that occurred. While your world may seem calm, you must prepare for the worst. If you are not able to, I pray we will be able to come to your aid, just as I did for my home. I will explain in as much detail as possible up to this point. This story begins on that fateful day, the day I turned sixteen and discovered the world of Heiwa. * * * Flames were everywhere. The castle was destroyed. Civilians and Soldiers alike scrambled about in a panic. There was no surviving. The only hope now was the queen of the country. "Where is her highness!?" "I thought you were watching her!" "I only took my eyes of for a moment, we were overrun!" "We must search, we can't lose her during this dark hour...AHHH!!" "Aaahhh!!" Walls collapsing. Soldiers crushed. Women and children scrambling for some sort of false safety. Men trying to save those already lost. The queen still missing. So many hoping it was all a dream. A lone woman coming onto a balcony of the ruined castle. Holding her hands up, calming the people even for a second. "The Queen!" cheers from the people. "Your Highness!" Soldiers rallying for a counterattack. "Her most Holiness!" Women, children, and priestesses thanking their shining star. "My most beloved people!" The queen lowered her hands. One look at her face and everyone knew their hope had dimmed. The people began to bow their heads in acceptance, allowing their final time with their loved ones. "I, Fortuna, beg your forgiveness. I have done a most selfish act. I have sent my daughter, our brightest star, to Earth. I only have one more act to do. I ask all of you to please bear with me. I must protect the sacred weapons, and the only way to do that is for us to be stopped in time. While we may lose our lives, we will not die fully. I ask that you watch over the objects, guarding them until the time has come that they may once again be used. Will you help me!?" The queen rose her arms for an answer. In unison, every citizen answered at once, "Yes my queen!! We will guard them even after death!! We won't let him beat us! This is our home, and he has no right to take it from us!" The people rose their arms, cheering. From behind the queen, five soldiers appeared above the rest. "The Five Sacred Warriors", the queens oldest friends and personal guards. Meteor the Knight, Shadow the Ninja, Kaze the Dragoon, Tambourine the Black Mage, and Blaze the Pyromancer all assembled beside their queen. Each raised their weapons: a sword, a katana, a lance, a scythe, and a double-bladed sword, each customized specifically for their owners. The queen then raised her staff, Nirvana. Each weapon began to shine and then flew to six spots in the sky. Everyone witnessed as the weapons scattered. Out of nowhere, the sky began to grow darker and darker, with an ominous shape forming. The queen rose her arms and gazed upward. "You will not achieve your plans! There will come a time when hope will reappear!" Light then shot from each weapon, creating a six-pointed star in the sky. Out of the darkness came a deep voice. "Hahaha, you think you will stop me? You are only a bug through my eyes. With this power, I will control both this world and the next." The dark shape flew toward the castle. The queen grinned and spoke softly. "You don't know a thing. While you may have acquired that monster, you will meet your end soon enough." The queen looked up at the darkness. "You will be destroyed! I made the mistake of teaching you, but our light with destroy my mistake!" The star began to shine brighter and created a light around the castle. "Enjoy your victory Resheim!" The six weapons shot across the horizon. The castle began to shine brighter and brighter, eventually so bright that the darkness dispersed. When the light vanished, the castle was gone. Around the area the castle once stood the land had become beautiful. Flowers of many different colors, grass so fresh it looked unreal, and six trees, white, black, red, blue, yellow, and green. Out of the emptiness, the voice spoke again. "My name is no longer Resheim. From now on I will be known by another name, one that will strike fear into the hearts of men. From now on, I will be known as Xeshirem. You many have achieved your goal Queen Fotuna, but I will destroy that light. This world will soon be mine, and your light will dim. Hahaha, Mwhahahha, HAHAHAHA!!" In another world, a young boy carried a child to a large school surrounded by a giant wall. A sign on the wall read YUKAI SCHOOL GROUNDS. "Don't worry Akarui, we'll be safe. I'll look after you till the time is right." The boy entered the building, clutching the baby tightly. * * * "Akarui! Akarui, time to get up!" I grabbed my clocked and looked at the time. It was already 9:23 am. I had plans to go to the museum with my friends later. I got out of bed and yawned. "Man, that was a weird dream. Seemed almost like it really happened. I wonder why that boy called that child my name? Oh well, I don't need to worry about it." I got out of bed and dressed myself. I could feel today was certainly going to be a of special day. Why wouldn't it be? After all, it was my sixteenth birthday. Spoiler: chapter 2 The Brightest Light Chapter 2 The Start of My Journey Before I continue, I should explain what happened to me before my birthday. When I was just a baby, my older brother took me to a place called Yukai. There he found a school that took us in. I don't know how it happened, but my brother made a deal with the Dean of the Yukai school and we were allowed to stay. Luckily for us, the school had its own little living quarters, probably made just for children like us who had no home. I don't see the Dean too much, since he's always in over his head in work, but he's taken good care of us, and I don't think I'll ever be able to thank him enough for taking us in. During the time I lived at the school, I met up with two girls who were to later become my friends, Umi and Sakura. Umi is 16 years old with short black hair, only reaching her neck, and her eyes are the brightest blue I have ever seen. She began to live at the school after her mother abandoned her when Umi was only four years old. Umi has always said that she wants to be a nurse to help people, and she's never given up on that. Right now she is the highest scoring person in any science class, as well as an A+ student in Health. Sakura is nearly the exact opposite from Umi in almost every way. She is 17 with her hair shoulder length, and it's always wavy for some reason. With her hair color being all the colors of fire, it seems like her entire head is on fire. Sakura is quite the tomboy, completely different from a cherry blossom, which her name comes from. She came to Yukai shortly after Umi arrived. She and my brother always took care of me when I got in trouble. After my brother left, Sakura became my self-proclaimed bodyguard. She eventually became the "pillar of flame" in our school, and even the strongest boys kept away from her. It does get a bit crazy at times when she gets in fights, but she has a soft side for young kids and friends and always seems to comprehend more things than most people, which lands her the title of "Blue Flame" as well. While I'm sharing my childhood I supposed I should talk about my brother as well. My brother's name is Lloyd and he is my influence. I suppose you could say that the years I spent with my brother was the best time of my childhood. My brother and I look nearly the same, with both of us having platinum hair and silver eyes. The one unusual feature about him is that his eyes look like they have stars in them. My brother was always protective of me, and kept telling me stories about a mystical land where magic was real. In this world, there was a monster called the Darkness, and it was so powerful it had could only be sealed away. He kept talking about it like it was real, and I could never figure out why, even to this day. My brother taught me things like "always place your trust in your friends", "never try to take the weight of the world's problems alone", "only do what you can do, and let someone else do what's impossible for you", and "never let go of the light inside of you". Even to this day, I still follow those rules, although the last one still confuses me. The worst part about having a brother as great as him is when he vanishes from your life, even if only to protect you. One day he came into my room and put his hand on my head and said only a few things. I still remember it like he was right in front of me, "I need you to stay here for just a while longer. I've done all I can to prepare you for what's to come. Remember to take care of yourself, as well as Umi and Sakura. You'll have to go through hardships, but I'm sure you of all people will make it through them. Just remember what I've taught you, and I'll meet you again soon. I'm sorry for putting you through all of this, but I will make it up to you. I promise." After that, he left and I never saw him again. I still believe one day I'll meet him again, and I will never stop praying to see him soon. * * * While I got dressed, I couldn't contain my excitement for what I had planned for the day. Most girls on their sixteenth birthday would try to have a huge party, but I didn't enjoy parties all that much. Ever since I was a young girl, I was always scared of parties. There was just something about all of the noise that reminded me of a town or city screaming in fear from some sort of danger. I blame my brother for putting those images in my head from his crazy stories. So, I decided to go out with my friends to the museum, since they were holding a brand new exhibit on the lost culture of Majicks. As long as I've known, I've always been interested in ancient cultures, or magic. When I heard that this new exhibit would feature artifacts that were used for magic, I couldn't hold myself back. The first chance I had, I bought tickets for Umi, Sakura, and myself. We all decided that we would visit the museum then do some karaoke and finally get some dinner. Just as I finished straightening my hair, Umi came through the door. She had on her favorite "Let's go or blow" T-shirt, with her scenic sea-lookout skirt(don't ask me why she has a sea on them). "What's taking so long? I was ready two hours ago." She scanned me, taking a look at what I had on. Of course, she had to make her famous "you're too good for those clothes" look. Umi has always had this weird notion that I shouldn't wear common clothes, but I have no idea why. I was wearing a t-shirt with a magic wand and sword making an X and a spell book in the middle with magic blasts of earth, fire, water, wind, light, and dark across the front and converging on the back making a six-pointed star. I don't know why, but this shirt always calmed me down. Besides my shirt, I was wearing a long skirt which had six sections, each symbolizing the elements. Umi sighed and waved her finger, "How is it that on your birthday you wear that shirt and skirt?" "What?" I had a puzzled look carved on my face, "I thought it worked since I enjoy this sort of stuff, and it's my sixteenth birthday." I walked to the door and we went into the hallway. While I may have lived in the school for my whole life, the hallway never seemed real to me. Try to think of the West Wing in Beauty and the Beast and you'll understand. We headed down the hallway chatting about what we hoped to see at the museum. "You know," Umi started. "What are you going to do if this new exhibit isn't what you expected?" She looked at me, waiting for an answer. "Well, maybe I'll just go to another museum, since there's plenty of them around." And that wasn't a joke either. Here in Yukai, Japan, there's more museums than you could think of. I've always enjoyed it because of that, and also because everyone here speaks English for some reason. "It's not like we haven't done that before, remember?" "Yeah, I remember." She put her finger to her head, remembering all those other times we've been disappointed with these kind of exhibits. "Oh yeah, Sakura says that she's waiting outside for us, so maybe we should run." Without giving me a chance to reply, she took off, "You don't want to make her wait do you?" She laughed at her joke, since we both know that Sakura always makes us do some kind of crazy act to make up for making her wait. Last time I made her wait, she had me try to juggle in front of a huge crowd with bowling pins, when I'd never juggled before in my life. With that thought, I took off as fast as I could. After a few sneaky tricks from Umi, and me sliding down the rails of the steps, we finally got to the front door. We noticed Sakura standing against the wall next to the door. She looked up and we could tell we had made her wait too long. She walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "You do realize that I've been waiting two minutes longer then I should have?" She grinned at me with a face that says she's hiding something. "Ah well, I-" before I could finish she put her arm around my neck and kept me in her arm lock. Before I could get away, she put her fist on my head. "Now now, let's not try to get away. After all, you've kept me waiting." Then before I could do anything, she gave me a noogie harder than any I've ever gotten before. "Haha, who told you to keep me waiting?" She glanced over to Umi with a evil grin. Umi froze in place. "Uh, hold on. I didn't do-ah!" Before she could say anything else she was caught too. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to give up both noogie's so bad it made my hair stand up a tiny bit. After a few minutes, she let up. I managed to pat my hair down, with extreme difficulty. Sakura looked at me and grinned. "Well, happy birthday our little angel." She held out her hand and in her palm was a gift. "From Umi and me." I grabbed it and teared up. "Now now, none of that." She wiped the tear from my cheek. "You deserve something great, so we got you this. Now open it up." I did as she said, before I got another punishment, and was shocked by what was inside. There was a dog tag(of course that's something Sakura would get) and on it there was a six-pointed star. In the middle of the star there was my name. I looked at them both and hugged them as tight as I could. "You guys are the greatest. I couldn't have asked for anything more." I gave the widest grin I could possibly make and hung it around my neck. "I'll cherish this for the rest of my life." I let them go and teared up even more. "If I could have asked for anything more, it would be to see my brother again." Umi and Sakura looked at each other and then put a hand on my shoulders. "Don't worry about it, Akarui, you'll meet him again soon." She took her hand off and walked down the stairs to the street. "Umi's right, Akarui," Sakura comforted me as best as she could. "You'll see him soon enough, don't worry. After all, he's already in for it for making you cry on your birthday." Then she walked down the steps after Umi. "Come on, let's get to the museum. Maybe some of that old junk will make you feel better." She laughed and ran off to the street. "Hey!" I chased after her, yelling. "It's not junk, it's priceless artifacts!" I caught up them and they turned around. "Of course it isn't," both said at the same time. We all laughed and headed towards the museum. I didn't know it then, but it would be the last time we all laughed like that for a long while.
bump again. Although the next 2 chapters are going in this post. Spoiler: chapter 3 The Brightest Light Chapter 3 I Head Home After a few minutes of walking down the street, and nearly getting attacked by an army of stray cats, we arrived at the museum. The museum was the biggest in the whole city, with the entire structure being a six-story building surrounded by pillars. The length of the building was nearly as large as two football fields, about a quarter of which counts for the stairs which would make a marathon runner tired, and the top was a giant plexiglass dome. The color of the building was not to be desired, since it looked like someone just grabbed giant buckets of paint and dropped them on the top to see what it would happen. There were so many colors that I couldn't even name some of them. The only natural colors that I knew were the red and green. Other than that, the other colors looked like something that came out of a nightmare. It certainly wasn't a design I would use, but at least the museum was fun to visit. The best time to visit the museum was at night, since the roof had neon on it, so the entire building would light up with a fantastic amount of color. As we headed up the stairs, I began to have a strange feeling around me. It almost seemed like the air had become more thick and dark. I stopped and turned around and noticed a boy walking up the stairs behind me. He had a serious face, with black spiky hair. It would looked even weirder with his hair only two inches long. As he got closer I noticed that his eyes were completely black. Staring at his eyes, I felt like I was falling into a pit of the deepest darkness. As he passed me, time seemed to slow down. He turned his head to me and said something. After he left, I ran back to my friends. "Akarui," Umi had a worried look on her face, "Did something happen?" I didn't want to worry her or Sakura so I held the truth from them. "Nope, nothing to worry about. He just looked familiar to me, that's all." I forced a smile, although I was having trouble hiding my shaking legs. Sakura walked up behind me, "Well, don't worry. There shouldn't be anything to freak out about when a good-looking boy walks pass you." She kept walking on up. Umi followed right behind her. While they were still far away, I could still hear them. Umi whispered into Sakura's ear, "I didn't think they would meet this soon." Sakura put her finger to Umi's lips. "We need to keep quite, at least until the time is right. Whether they meet before or after we thought doesn't matter." They both walked into the museum, with me still standing on the steps. I didn't know what they were talking about, but it seemed like they were hiding something. Fortunately, I was too distracted to actually think about anything more than what that boy said. What he whispered into my ear was not something I would have thought anyone would say. "Do you know of the Darkness?" What worried me the most was how he knew that name. I thought that was something only my brother knew. I tried not to think too much about it, since this was supposed to be an enjoyable day. I headed up the stairs and found Umi and Sakura waiting. "Jeez, how long do you plan to make us wait?" Sakura began to crack her fingers. That was her way to warn us that she was giving us a strike for making her wait too long. Somehow, I never realized that Sakura had the shortest patience in the city. "Ah, sorry, it won't happen again." We went inside the museum and showed our school ID's to the receptionist. Lucky for us, students got free admission. The inside of the museum always astounded me. It was mainly because of all the artifacts that were collected up to that point. All of the other museums in Yukai wouldn't match the greatness of this even if they were all put into one museum. In the middle of the floor was a giant sculpture of Mount Olympus from the Greek mythology. This was supposedly a way to show that this museum was so great that it was good enough for the heavens, but I get the feeling they only put it in here to show how great the sculpture was. Around us were more exhibits, with many different artifacts from ancient Egypt to the middle ages. And that was only the first floor. We took our time to get through the exhibits, since the newest one was on the sixth floor. While we looked over the old artifacts I began to ramble on about each one. Every time we went to a museum together, I always showed off my knowledge of ancient cultures to Umi and Sakura. And as always, those two brought their own special pair of earplugs. I call them special since they were modified, I don't know how, to allow only the sound of what the person wants to hear in. I don't know why, but they're the only ones that are able to stand my rantings. Every time we take a trip to another museum with our class, everyone tries to come up with an excuse to leave my lectures. I don't see why they would want to leave, since my lectures are full of interesting facts. After about an hour on the first floor, I started to get hungry. I looked at my watch, and noticed that it was around noon. "Why don't we go get some lunch, I'm starving." Umi and Sakura took off their earplugs and looked at their watches too. "Aww, but we don't want to miss your thirty-minute lecture on the boots of Genghis-Khan," Umi replied sarcastically. While they don't mind my little ramblings, you can tell that they only stay because they have the patience for them. Sakura pinched Umi in the shoulder. "Ouch! What was that for?" Umi rubbed her arm where she was pinched. "Because, do you really want to decline the birthday girl's wishes?" She leaned over Umi, like a giant over a human. There are so many things about Sakura that I never understand. Somehow she manages to make people seem like ants to her when they're only an inch smaller than her. In this case, it's a two inch difference. "Well okay, but she's buying." Faster then the eye could see, Sakura pinch her again. "OUCH!" Umi kept rubbing her shoulder. "Nu-uh, we're both buying." Sakura looked at me and gave me a thumbs-up. While she may be a tomboy, she certainly knows how to treat a person well. We headed over to the food court on the the second floor. Because the museum was designed with a weird floor design, there's a hold in the middle of the third and fifth floor, while there's a huge square for people to hang out on the second, fourth, and sixth floor. However, today the exhibit is being held throughout the entire sixth floor, so even the square is filled. It takes a lot to fill the squares, since they're about as big as two tennis courts. I don't know how they did it, but somehow the museum was designed with the entire second floor being a food and arcade floor. I try not to question these kind of things; math isn't my strong point. We decided to get some pizza, so Umi and I found a table at one of the edges of the food court. We sat down and saw Sakura waiting in line for getting the pizza. Unfortunately for her, there was a line of about 10 people in front of her. I'm hoping she doesn't go crazy. "So," I turned toward Umi as she began, "Do you actually think that boy was cute?" She kept bending forward until she looked like she might become a human L. Truthfully, I tried to forget about that boy, but when Umi brought it back up I started to shake again. "Well, I don't know. He seemed kind of....dark." Umi straightened up and twirled her fingers. When she began to do that, I knew for sure something was up. Umi has always had a habit of twirling her fingers when something was up that she knew and I didn't. It also meant that she wasn't meant to tell me about it. Before I could figure it out though, Sakura came up with our pizza. It seemed a bit fast so I looked back at the store, and sure enough, everyone who was near the store kept scooting as far back as possible from Sakura. I didn't want to ask or know what she had done. Some things are better of left unknown. Sakura placed the pizza on the table and when I looked inside, my stomach felt like it emptied by half. Lucky for me, Sakura knows how hungry I am, because there were two large pepperoni pizzas inside the box. Having her as a friend is sometimes quite advantageous. I took two slices and put them on my plate. Sakura sat down and grabbed some, as well as Umi. During the time we ate, we talked about what we plan on doing after the school year, as well as how I was going to get through my math classes. Just the thought of math makes me feel like sitting in a dark, gloomy corner. After we finished lunch, Sakura got up and stretched. I don't know why, but every time she sits down she has to stretch when she gets up. "Well, shall we get going to see the sixth floor then?" She began to walk off toward the stairs. Umi grabbed the pizza box, "Well, I guess I'll take care of this. You'd better hurry so Sakura doesn't have to wait for you." She smiled and walked off as well. I got out of my seat and headed toward to stairs to catch up with them, but just then, the air began to feel different. It almost felt like with that boy, but this time it felt like there was a large flame behind me. I turned and noticed a girl with bright red hair which stretched down to her waist and amber eyes. When she got closer I felt like she would toast the area around her. I thought she was going to say something, but instead she just walked right past me. I almost thought that she didn't see me, but she turned her head to me and I could tell that there was sweat on her head. She smiled and walked off. I had no idea what that was about, but before I started thinking too much after it I ran to Umi and Sakura so I wouldn't get another "punishment". Sakura may be kind enough to pay for lunch, but she' merciless when it comes to anyone making her late. Just as I thought they would actually have gone to the exhibit without me, I found them next to the elevator to the sixth floor. The sixth floor might be a hangout for kids, but that's only if you can afford it. Any person that wants to go to the sixth floor needs to buy a card for twenty dollars to work the elevator, but today they made it that you needed a special ticket to make it to the sixth floor. There was only one elevator built for the sixth floor, which is about two floors higher than the fifth, so no one is able to sneak onto it. You could say that the floor was made only for those who work hard enough for it. By that I mean that you can only pay for the card if you use money that you made yourself. We gave our tickets to the guard and went inside. When we got to the sixth floor I felt like fainting. There were so many items that resembled magic and miniature figures of castles that I couldn't contain myself. I began to run around, looking at all of the artifacts like an inspector examines evidence of a crime scene. After I got through the square I ran toward the nearest hall. Above the hall read a banner that read "MIRROR OF DIMENSIONS". I was so excited I ran toward the end of the hall. When I reached the end of the hall, I saw a mirror that had to be the biggest I'd ever seen. The mirror was around 6' 7", and its edges were engraved with so many designs that I couldn't help but try and touch it. At the top of the Mirror were 6 gems, white, black, red, blue, green, and brown. Just then, I felt a presence behind me. I turned around, thinking it was Umi and Sakura, since I probably lost them while looking at all of the artifacts, but I wasn't so lucky. Behind me were the boy I met at the steps and the girl in the food court. Just being near them I felt like I was going to be crushed. "I'm surprised you're actually scared to move," the boy said, with sweat pouring down his face. "...What?" I tightened my hands, forming fists. "You're able to sense our aura, but you can't even feel your own." The girl walked over to me. "I supposed it makes sense, since we can't feel ours either, but it's amazing how you're scared. Your aura feels like it's crushing me into the ground. If you haven't noticed, both of use are barely able to move." As she said that I did noticed that her strides were heavy, like she was weighed down. "Maybe you should all just calm down." The girl and boy turned around and I was shocked by who, and what, I saw there. Sakura and Umi were both wearing different clothes, Sakura with armor and Umi with a ninja outfit. Sakura was also holding a double-bladed sword and Umi was holding a katana. "Umi. Sakura. What's going on, and what are you doing with those weapons." As I said that, the boy and girl back away, with fear etched into their faces. "What are you doing with those weapons? How did you get them in hear?" The boy walked back, almost tripping over himself. "We've had them, but you just never noticed them." Sakura walked over to me and the girl. She looked at the girl and smiled. "Well, I supposed you really are her. It's amazing that you've grown up to be just like your mother." The girl's face changed from fear to shock. "How do you know my mother?" The girl tried to walk, but she couldn't move her legs. "Don't worry," Umi walked over to the boy, pushed him over to us. "You'll find that out soon enough. We've done our job protecting you, now it's time that you learn of your home." She walked over to the mirror. "Why don't you look behind you?" Sakura pointed to the mirror, and we turned around. What was once just a normal mirror now held the image of a large field with a path that stretch to a large city on a cliff that overlooked what seemed like a sea. "I know that you can see it, Akarui." I turned around to her with a puzzled look. "You came from there originally, but we had to bring you here." She walked over the the mirror as well. Both Umi and Sakura put there hands on the sides of the mirror. Just as they did, a bright light began to shine and I had to cover my eyes. Just as the light dimmed a giant force began to pull me into the mirror. I noticed that the boy and girl were also being pulled in. "What's going on!? Where are you taking us!?" The girl tried to run away, but before she could, she was sucked into the mirror. In the image, I noticed a falling object. When I looked closer I noticed it was the girl, asleep. I looked at Sakura and Umi. "What have you done to her!?" I tried to get to them, but the force pulling me in was too strong. "Don't worry," Umi looked at me and smiled, "She's safe. She'll land where she is meant to, and her own journey will start from there." "What? I don't get what you're saying?" Tears started to fill in my eyes. I felt like I was being betrayed. My two best friends were sucking us into this mirror. "Now now, don't start crying." Sakura put her hand out. In her palm was a tiny flame symbol. "We were sent to guard you till you were old enough to head back home. This world is where we're from, all of us," she glanced at the boy. "It's time that you find out the truth about your family Akarui, and about your past." I turned my head and saw the boy stop try to run away. For some reason, the force didn't effect him then. "Are you saying that I'll find out about my own past too?" He glanced at Umi. Umi nodded her head. "Yes, you too will find out about your past," she glanced toward the mirror. "All you need to do is head there." The boy looked at her a little more and then made his decision. "Alright, I'll trust you. After all, you're too cute to lie." You could tell Umi began to blush from that. The boy then looked at Sakura and she nodded. The boy then jumped into the mirror. The mirror rippled again and I saw another shooting star. "It's your turn," Sakura looked at me. "Don't worry, Lloyd with fill you in when you get there." "My brother!?" I was stricken by what she had just said. Sakura nodded. I glanced at Umi with a questioning look. She nodded as well. "Alright, after all, you two haven't lied to me yet." They both laughed. "Yeah well, you didn't expect us to now, did you?" Sakura walked over to me and hand me her dog-tag. "Use this when you've found you're path. It will lead you to us." She grabbed my hand and put it in my palm. I gripped it as hard as I could. "I won't lose it, I promise." "You'd better not," she put her hands on her hips, "other you owe me another one." We laughed and Umi walked over to me as well. "Take this. It will help you in your time of need." She handed me a plastic bottle and stepped back. "don't worry, we'll be right behind you. After all, what can we do without you around?" "So true." Sakura walked over to Umi. "I won't have anyone besides Umi to punish for being late". We laughed and I looked toward the mirror. While I did, the wind almost seemed to invite me in. I took one last look at my friends. "Don't worry," both said at once. "You have good friends, and you'll make more as you continue your journey." They backed away from the mirror. "Unfortunately," Sakura began, "we have to go through the pain of having to find this mirror again to get home, and that's going to be a while. So make sure you keep entertained without us. There is that cute boy you know." She winked and I chuckled. She knew I didn't care for him, but I think that was just her attempt at making a dramatic good-bye. I guess I wasn't going to let them down, so from her cue, I jumped into the mirror; into the world that would change my life. Spoiler: chapter 4 The Brightest Light Chapter 4 I Get A Magical Welcome You would think going from one world to another would be as simple as falling asleep and waking up somewhere you've never been. Unfortunately, that isn't what the real world offers you. What was probably only a few seconds to hitting the ground felt like an hour. The moment I stepped through the mirror, I found myself falling through a strange path of sorts. All around me there were colors swirling, and under me looked like a road that was crafted from light. And when I say light, I mean light. The path was as bright as the sun, but for some reason it didn't seem to bother me too much. As I fell, I noticed strange images flashing around me. One of the images showed a city being surrounded by a dark cloud then all of a sudden shining with a giant six-pointed star above it. Another image showed six trees of different colors, white, black, red, blue, green, and yellow. As I passed that image I viewed another with a young boy holding a baby, walking into what looked like a portal. Before I could make any sense of the images that kept flashing before me the area in front of me seemed to distort. Without any warning the colors blew apart in shards, showing a wonderful view of some mountains, a sea, some plains, and a forest. You would think that would be great, but there's just one problem. I was falling through the middle of the sky. As I fell, I tried everything I could think of to try and stop my sudden plummet. I tried everything from flapping my arms to blowing toward the ground. When you're plummeting toward the ground without anything to help you, you'd be surprised what you would do to stay alive. I looked below and saw a forest come closer into view. If I had to estimate the distance, I'd say about two miles. While I was doing the chicken dance in midair I noticed a cloud near me. Sure, a cloud isn't anything, but this cloud was shaped like a man and woman. And I was not hallucinating. I watched as the hands of the man and woman stretched out toward me. I didn't want to become some sort of cloud lunch so I started to swing widely at it. With about half a mile left to go till I hit the ground, I was sure I'd either become pancake or cloud food. As the cloud's arms neared me, I suddenly heard a strange voice in my head. "No need to worry. We'll protect you." As soon as the voice disappeared, a bright light began to shine around the humanoid cloud. I have no idea how, but the light then scattered from the cloud and swarmed around me. With only about five-hundred feet left, I thought I was going to die, but just before I hit the ground, I blanked out. * * * After trusting your friends about it being safe to go through a mirror and then falling through the air, you're really going to have a headache. That, and the urge to run around crazy trying to find your friends and give them beating. After a second of trying to figure out what happened to me, I realized I was swaying side to side. I strained to open my eyes and saw some of the strangest things you could see in your life. While my eyes were still open my vision was foggy so I could not make out exact details. I was laying on a giant piece of cloth, with about six people carrying me through what I made out to be a forest. I strained my eyes trying to get a look at what the people in front of me were wearing. While there were some minor differences, they all seemed to be wearing the same sort of clothes. Their bodies were covered by some sort of cloth and their hair was tied into a bundle at the end with a string of grass. Their hands were covered by the same sort of cloth, except on the back of their hands were small pieces of wood. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were used for hitting people. I couldn't see below the waist, so I wasn't able to tell what they looked like below. Just before I lost consciousness again, I noticed something strange about the forest I didn't see before. The trees around us were shining, like they were frozen or something, and I could make out faint lights shimmering all around. I tried to reach out and grab one, but my arm wouldn't move. As my vision started to darken again, I noticed a giant tree. This tree made the Empire State Building look like a toy, because it stretched all the way into the sky, above the clouds. The tree's trunks seemed to swirl around, but in the center was not something that seemed natural. There was a giant sphere made of wood in the middle of the tree, with the trunks opening up around it, but closed over and under it. It almost seemed like the sphere was in a cage. Before I could think of anything else beyond that, I suddenly fell unconscious. * * * "Do you really think that she's the one?" "Why wouldn't she be? She did fall from the sky, just as the other two." "Maybe she just accidentally fell through the hole." "There's no way a person from the other world could survive a fall like that. Not to remind you, but the priestess and knight did show themselves to her. That should be enough proof." "Enough! She is coming too." I groaned and laid my hand on my head. While I have never drank in my life, I have seen those that have gotten hangovers from them, and I felt like that. I opened my eyes and found myself in a small, quaint little room, built out of wood, surrounded by a group of 5 people; the same as the ones that carried me through that forest. "Where am I?" I tried to get up but immediately felt my arms go flimsy. What seemed like the oldest of the group put his hand on my chest. "Easy. You are still weak from coming to this world. You need to take a moment to rest." He sat down at a chair that was planted in front of me. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the pun until it was too late, because the chair literally was planted into the ground and sprouting out of it like a tree....only as a chair? Now I was officially confused. "You are in the Illumina Forest. I am the elder here, known as Grete." The man called himself the elder, but he only looked like he was around his late-thirties to early-forties. His hair was a grayish-green, and he had the tiniest hint of a widow's peak. His eyes were dark blue and his height was around five-foot three, but with me so low it sure didn't feel that way. "Illumina Forest?" I wondered how I ended up in any kind of forest. Then I remembered falling through the sky. "Oh yeah, that's how." The elder looked at me with with a puzzled and face. "Uh, nothing. Just talking to myself." He nodded his head in understanding. "So mister, how did I get here anyways?" "Please, call me Grete. And that is an interesting tale indeed." he straightened up and touched his hand to my forehead. As he did this, my mind suddenly felt like it was whisked away to somewhere else. It almost felt like I was on that demon pathway when I arrived here. I was standing in a deep, lush forest and everyone in the room seemed to be there. When I looked up I saw a small figure falling from the sky. I began to notice that the figure was actually me. "We were keeping watch at our sacred ground, which is one of many portals that lead to the world you came from." Grete kept his hand on my head as he talked. In the images I could see the cloud stretching out to me. Seeing it in person is one thing, but looking at myself like that, I realized just how dumb looking I had actually been. As I was watching my comedy routine, I noticed the light surrounding me. As I watched myself get closer to the ground, I couldn't help but turn away just as I was falling unconscious. I can't stay awake as I plummet to the ground or as I watch myself plummet to the ground, go figure. Just then, a bright flash came from the spot which I had crashed. The people from the image ran over and looked over my body. When one looked under my left arm, he jumped back. The others pointed at my arm and started to whisper. I'll have you know, it's not nice to look at someone who fell two miles high and is unconscious. Grete, who I was apparently in the position of, walked over to my body and saw my arm. On it was a 6 pointed star, with the very top part of it shining so bright it was dazzling. Above the tip was what looked like a sun, but was actually just a beam of light radiating in every direction. Just then the image Grete pulled a tiny, palm-sized six-pointed star out of a bag from his wait and in a blink of an eye, it became the piece of cloth I was being carried on. "We must take her to the village at once. If this is truly her, then the time has finally come for this curse to be lifted." After that the image faded and I was back in the room with the elder and five other people. Grete sat down on the chair again and sighed. "Although we were looking forward to this day, it certainly came faster then anticipated." "Wait a minute," I managed to sit myself straight on the bed. "What were you waiting for?" I wanted to stand at that point, but my legs still felt like jelly. "And might I also ask, what was that star on my arm?" "The Star of the Elements." Grete shuffled his hands and feet. "It is a sign that only appears on those worthy to control the elements." He stood up and lifted my left sleeve. Then he put his hand and there in the same spot the star appeared. "This particular pattern claims you the current Mage of Light." "Mage of Light?" I held my shoulder, trying to get a better look at the star. "That pattern tells all who see it that you are the one who will control the element of Light." Grete walked over to the door, which I hadn't noticed before, but for a good reason; it wasn't there before at all. The door was actually just an opening inside a tree. "But there is more to it than that. The Star of Elements only appears to certain people, and once it is claimed, it is passed down through that family's line, until a new family earns the right to the power. Which means, all of the power of Light, as well as the sign which marks you as the Mage of Light, was handed down to you by your mother." "Why my mother?" I had a puzzled look on my face, since I figured it was either men or women that could have something like this. Not too mention how Grete knew who my mother was. "Because," Grete turned around and had the most serious face you could ever see on a man, "the last Mage of Light was the queen of our country, the country of Heiwa, Queen Fortuna. She was your mother, and had you sent away to Earth to protect you till the time was right for you to come back home. Come back home to save us from the evil that is only know as the Darkness."
Wow, this is really good! I'm always getting sucked into fantasy stories. I like the concept of the different types of warriors, as if each holds a different element. And of corse holding the traditional light against darkness. The only "problem" (very minor) is it seems to move a little bit fast. But I fall into that problem as well, according to my friends. But other than that really good! Would love to read more!
I know, I wanted to try and make the beginning like a game, since I plan on making this into one, so I tried to make it a little fast. I haven't continued past chapter 4 because I'm working a little more on character designs and I'm also figuring out which way I want to do this story, since one way could actually make a sequal, for how long it could be. But I'm thinking of doing that, since it seems the most fun
o does that mean you want it to become a game? Or did you style it like that for another purpose? And yes, the story is awesome.
Impressive! I've always loved fantasies. The different elements and warriors are what really impressed me. How long did it take you to write all these?
oh yeah, I plan on making it a game some day, whether it have to be by myself or maybe getting a company to do it. I've had this idea in my head for a long time. I first actually started because in my writing class 2 years ago we could either have written a short story or a chapter of a book if we wanted, and I chose the chapter. But I've made a lot of changes, but definately for the better Umm, maybe around 2 hours? I just make sure each of my chapters are at least 2000 words. Because since I'm almost 18 the word limit will be 60000, and so I'm trying to make it at least 2000 each to make it a little bit easier. But chapter 3 was around 5000 I think.
