Chapter 1 - Fateful Meetings

Was it all just a dream? Or maybe a vision? No, no it couldn't have been! I know it really happened! It all began the day I asked the tarot cards about these recurring dreams I was having…

Long after the final bell of the day rang out, the students of Kama Kita High School spread themselves over campus. Some had already begun their journey home, others were already participating in their clubs and other after school activities.

Everyone was where they were supposed to be… at least, almost everyone.

The figure of Hitomi Kanzaki, dressed in her blue track pants and jacket, quickly whizzed through the crowd of home-bound students, who's eyes turned in curiosity at the girl who was clearly running late for track practice. Her short sandy-brown hair flew back from the breeze of her speed, flying upwards as she stumbled down a set of stairs and made a leap down the final steps to save herself from falling.

With a successful landing she regained her speed, making her way to the track field where her red-headed friend, Yukari, was waiting, with a annoyed look on her face. Hitomi reached her friend, placing her hands above the knees, trying to catch her breath from all the running.

"You're late! Again! Where have you been? Practice starts at 4pm sharp! You'll never keep your place on the team if you keep doing this, and as the team manager, I'm the one who will hear about it from the coach!" Yukari declared, with annoyance in her voice.

"I'm sorry Yukari, I fell asleep in the library during study period." Hitomi was still panting, catching her breath.

"Again? What's going on Hitomi? That's the third time this week, aren't you getting enough sleep at night?"

"Well I keep having these…"

"Ok, we'll do the girls team next!" Hitomi was interrupted, as the coach shouted for the girls to line up for their practice lap. Hitomi quickly removed her track-suit and made her way to the line up. As the other girls stretched and prepared themselves, Hitomi looked over to Yukari who was conversing with Susumu Amano, a tall upperclassman with shoulder-length brown hair. Yukari noticed Hitomi's staring and waved at her friend in a gesture of good luck, Amano following in the gesture, smiled and waved as well, making Hitomi smile at her friends. Suddenly…

A young boy with wild raven-black hair run up to Hitomi, a big smile on his face as he handed her a small flower…

Hitomi shook her head 'What was that? Am I still dreaming?' as she question herself…

A teenaged boy of Hitomi's age, with the same wild raven-black hair, dressed in battle armour, walked towards a towering, muscular man, with long gray-hair and a scar completely covering his left eye.

"Are you ready my Prince?" asked the older man.

"Yes Balgus, I am ready!" replied the raven-haired teen.

"I know you will succeed Lord Van, keep your brother's failure far from your mind." Balgus said gently to the teen he called 'Van'.

Van cringed at the statement.

"That's enough Balgus!" he replied aggressively. "You know I would never run away from my enemy!"

*Bang*

The sound of a gunshot pulled Hitomi out of her vision and she instinctively leapt from the blocks where her feet were placed. She ran swiftly, gaining on the fastest girl. As she passed the leader of the race, she saw before her the same raven-haired prince standing right in front of her. Confused and running at full speed, she thought she was going to collide with him, only to become shocked as she ran through him like he was air. She immediately fell backwards, into blackness…

Hitomi was standing in what would be described as a wasteland. Dead bodies, fallen weapons and pieces of something, scattered the ground.

*Clang*

She turned around and saw two giants battle each other with swords. One was blue, plain and rounded, the other was white and majestic looking. The white giant over-powered the blue giant with vertical swipe down its front. The blue giant fell, defeated, as the white giant stood, almost appearing taller, in victory

Hitomi slowly opened her eyes, her sight adjusting quickly to the light of the room. She realized she was in the schools infirmary and was surprised to see Amano sitting by her bedside.

"Amano" she began to sit up.

"You should stay in bed and rest." He gently suggested. "You gave us quite a scare there Hitomi. You've been out for over an hour."

Hitomi looked out the window and realized the sun was setting. The clock on the wall read that it was well after 5pm.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt or anything. Your forms looks pretty good by the way," Amano began. Hitomi blushed 'My form? Is he talking about my body?'

"I can tell you've been practicing quite a bit since Junior High. I expect it won't be long before coach makes you the captain of the woman's track team."

'oh he was talking about my form for running' Hitomi's blush quickly faded, happy to receive a compliment on her running skills from the men's track captain.

"Thank you, I still have a lot of work to do. I wish I could beat 13 seconds like you have, Amano."

"It's all in the way you come off the blocks. You've got to focus and give it everything you've got. You'll get there eventually." He gave her a confident smile.

"Hey, that's a nice pendant!" he pointed to the pink jewel that hung on a chain around Hitomi's neck.

"Thanks, it belonged to my grandmother when she was alive. It's my good luck charm. The neat thing about it is, when you swing it back and forth it keeps perfect time. Always completing one cycle a second, never slowing down."

"Wow, can I try it?" Amano leaned forward to reach for the pendant… a little too far forward. Hitomi didn't even get a chance to move her hand to remove the pendant for Amano, when the infirmary door opened swiftly.

"Hitomi! How are you fee…" Yukari's expression quickly changed from a smile to utter shock at what she saw. Amanos face was practically at Hitomis, and his hand hover just a little bit over Hitomi's left breast.

He had originally placed his hand palm up to take the pendant but as the door opened, he subconsciously flipped his hand over as his face turned to the entrance. It made appear as if he was about to cop-a-feel on Hitomi, who was now sitting blushing a beet red, only imagining how this situation looked to Yukari.

"Yukari! For the thousandth time, nothing happened and nothing was going to happen! I swear!" cried Hitomi, as her red-headed friend walked a bit a head of her.

"You just keep telling yourself that Hitomi… But honestly I never thought you'd be THAT kind of girl." It was the first Yukari had spoken since they left the school infirmary. Amano, quickly darted out of the room and the girls stared awkwardly for a few minutes before Hitomi finally broke the silence and informed her friend she'd get changed so they could leave. Yukari could only manage a small nod at that moment, but now, Hitomi could hear the sarcastic and teasing tone in her friends voice. Annoyed, but relieved, Hitomi sighed, thankful her friend wasn't upset with her.

"But if you don't want the other girls to hear about this, it's gonna cost you." She had turned to face Hitomi and winked at her as she finished her statement. Hitomi rolled her eyes 'Of course it will.'

"A cherry cheesecake from the bakery and a different dessert at lunch everyday for the next week." Hitomi couldn't help but laugh. Of course her friend wanted sweets, the red-head could practically eat her weight in sweets.

They had finally reached the train station platform, and as they awaited their train to arrived, Yukari began a new conversation.

"Oh hey, I just remembered, you were going to tell me about why you haven't been getting much sleep lately. Are you going out to parties every night or something?"

Hitomi smiled while rolling her eyes at her friend. Yukari knew perfectly well she was not that kind of girl.

"No, I've been having these really weird and vivid dreams. I've had them on and off for the last year, but this past week they've become more frequent."

"Is it the dream you told me about before? The raven-haired boy, and the moon and earth in the sky?"

"Yes, but there's more now. I've been dreaming about the same boy, except he's older, around our age."

Yukari absorbed her friends words, and immediately a smile that would out-do the Cheshire Cat himself, grew on her face.

"And, uh, what happens in these new dreams, with the teenaged version of the raven-haired boy?"

It took a minute for Hitomi to realize what Yukari was getting at, but once she did her face felt hot and turned beet red once more.

"YUKARI! NOTHING LIKE THAT!" Thankfully as Hitomi shouted that, the train pulled up, giving a loud whistle, preventing other passengers from hearing her yell at her best friend. Yukari held her sides, as she laughed, which continued until they sat down in the train. Silence fell between the two girls again, as Yukari regained control of herself, and lightly smiled at Hitomi, who was giving her a glare for being suggestive about her dreams.

"Ok, for real, what has been happening in your dreams?" Hitomi maintained most of her glare, only raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"I promise I won't laugh or make anymore suggestive comments."

Still glaring "You promise?"

Yukari raised her right hand, placing her left over her heart "I promise. Scouts honour."

Hitomi relaxed her body, relieving it of the hostile posture and turning to face her friend.

"It started a few days ago, I had the same dream I normally have"…

…A young Hitomi stood in the middle of a beautiful garden, which was located in a lush green forest. Wearing a light pink dress, with her hand placed behind her back, she looked side-to-side, searching for something. Her sandy-brown hair fell just below her shoulders and waved back and forth with every turn of her little head.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a bush full of flowers begin to shake. She turned to observe and discover the source. Out stumbled the young raven-haired boy, wearing a red shirt and dark shorts, shaking leaves and twigs out of his wild hair with his left hand, while holding a small flower in his right. He looked over to his right and saw Hitomi staring at him. Not only did his face widen with a big smile, Hitomi could see that same smile in his crimson coloured eyes. He ran over and handed the flower to her. Hitomi smiled just as brightly as the boy, accepting his beautiful gift

"And then instead of waking up as I normally do, the dream changes."

…15 year-old Hitomi is standing before a large tower, the sky is dark with ominous clouds, and the land surrounding her is dead and dreary. A bolt of lightning strikes the tower, cracking it and causing it to collapse. As it hits the ground, the earth beneath Hitomi's feet begins to shake and then collapse. Hitomi is now falling from the earth, nothing beneath or above her accept darkness.

A flash of light appears, and a man descends from above towards the falling Hitomi. Bright white wings appear from his back and he speeds his descent. Hitomi reaches for the winged-man, whose face is covered in shadow. Their hands meet in a life-saving grip

"So that's one of the changes to my dream… it's also the longest one. Sometimes I dream and I see Van in my regular dreams. I'll be doing basic things like hanging out with you, or sitting in class, and I'll see him, standing there, looking for something."

"Van? Where did you come up with that name?" Yukari's head tilted side ways, glancing at her friend, who was staring out the train window opposite to them.

"That's another thing. Before I did my run I had a vision of the little boy… then it changed and I saw him as a teenager, he was talking to an older man, who called the teen 'Van'."

"You know what I think," Yukari began, sitting back into her seat, hands at the back of her head.

"Maybe this Van guy might your soulmate."

"My soulmate, Yukari?" she replied, almost in disbelief at the idea of it.

"Yeah, you know how some people say we're reincarnated from previous lives? And we dream about or meet people we've never met before, but they feel so familiar? Maybe you're dreaming about a previous life and he's your soulmate. Maybe he's trying to call you in this life, and that's why you're dreaming about him more often."

"You know what I think, Yukari?"

They girls sat silently, staring at each other, for a good few seconds. The train stopped and announced the girls destination.

"You're crazy!"

With that, Hitomi got and grabbed her things, heading off the train. Yukari sat for a second, grabbed her stuff and ran after her friend. Hitomi was already making her way down the steps of the outdoor platform, as Yukari got off the train.

"SAYS THE GIRL WHO READS FORTUNES AND HAS WEIRD DREAMS ABOUT SOME GUY!"

Neither girl cared if passengers looked their way, as Yukari ran to catch up to her friend to finish their walk home together.

Only two things were on Hitomi's mind as she laid in bed that night. 1) How could she beat 13 seconds in the 100m sprint? and 2) What was the meaning behind the dreams she was having lately.

She turned her head and looked at the deck of tarot cards resting on her desk. Her predictions for her friends were always accurate, and she had yet to do a reading for herself. Sliding off her bed, she made her way to the desk, placing her fingertips on the first card…

… The silhouette of the raven-haired teen, Van, was standing with his back to Hitomi. As if she was gliding through the hair, she could now only see him from the shoulders up. He turned his head toward her, staring off in the distance at his left side, a lost and sad look on his face and in his crimson eyes…

The vision didn't give her any hesitation, as she picked up and began to shuffle her deck. It was almost as if some powerful force was guiding her actions. Her question to the cards was very clear. What did her dreams and visions mean? She drew the first card.

The tower!

"The card of distant separation?" she shook her head in confusion and drew the next card.

The Ace of Serpants!

"Courage?"

The reading made no sense to her, but the lack of good sleep in the past week finally hit her, and she made her way in to bed. For the first night in a week, she had a dreamless sleep.

Hitomi was sitting with her lunch, studying her notes from the previous class, when her Amano and Yukari approached her.

"Hitomi?" she looked up from her notes and met Amano's gaze. He had an excited smile on his face, as did Yukari. It appeared to Hitomi that the events of the previous afternoon were long from her friends minds.

"What's up guys?" she asked, her smile matching theirs.

"We just found out that you and Amano have been chosen to represent the school in the 100m sprint race in two weeks!" Yukari could hardly contain her excitement, practically shouting the news at her friend. Hitomi was shocked. How did she get picked?

"But I can't even break 13 seconds yet, I'm not even the fastest girl on the team. How on earth did the coach choose me for this?"

"Ok, you're right that you aren't the fastest girl," Yukari spoke so bluntly, making Hitomi's eyes narrow a bit.

"But Keiko slipped in her tub and dislocated her collarbone… she's not going to be running any time soon. So you're it girl!"

"I know you want to break 13 seconds, Hitomi, so I was going to suggest we meet at the track field tonight and work on your sprint." It was nice of Amano to suggest, and Hitomi knew she'd need to break 13 seconds if she had any chance of beating the other girls.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll be there!" Hitomi gave Amano a thankful smile.

"Great, I'll see both you girls there tonight." Amano waved at them and departed from the cafeteria.

"You're coming too Yukari?"

"But of course, who else will make sure you keep your honour in tact around the gorgeous and wonderful, Amano Susumou!" Yukari winked, she was of course being silly and dramatic.

"I'm going for moral support, and also as the team manager it is my job to help shape up our schools representatives." She crossed her arms, raising her nose to the sky to give herself a look of importance and authority. Though her words were true, her physical actions were a flare of dramatics, all for Hitomi's and her own entertainment.

Hitomi was all set on the blocks, her lucky pendant secured around her neck, hiding itself under her shirt. Yukari watched from the sidelines, while Amano stood just over 100m from Hitomi, stop-watch in-hand and ready.

"Ready! Set! Go" Hitomi took off with great speed, as she ran as fast as she could…

The raven-haired prince, Van, with his sword in-hand, was running through an open field, the look in his eyes, he was eager to meet his sword with someone, or something

…8 seconds into her sprint, lightning repeatedly struck the ground, merging together to create a pillar of light. It was happening so fast, Hitomi could not stop herself. Suddenly, Van merged from the pillar of light, which disappeared, as his feet touched the ground, placing him directly into Hitomi's path. Unable to stop, she ran right into his left side.

Van kept his footing, but in an instinctive move to defend himself, he had pushed Hitomi to the ground. He stood there, staring at her, while stared up at him.

"Who are you?" he snapped. Hitomi just sat there frozen. Van glanced around at his surroundings, realizing they weren't familiar.

"Where am I?"

'It's him!' Hitomi thought. Amano and Yukari came to her side. Yukari kneeled down beside Hitomi. 'He's the same guy from my dreams and visions!'

He was standing before her, his upper body was dressed in black armour, with a long-sleeved chainmail shirt underneath, with tan pants and black boots. A crossbow was strapped to his back and he held a sword in his right hand.

"Who are you?" Amano asked, rather aggressively.

"Don't take that tone with me!" Van shot back, matching Amano's aggression.

"Please, just calm down. We're not from your world. I'm Hitomi, what's your name?" Hitomi found the strength to stand and speak to Van, trying to ease the situation.

Van eased up a little, but his guard was still up, like he was expecting something.

"It's Van. Van Fanel." he answered calmly.

"Wait! Hitomi, isn't Van the guy from your dreams?" Yukari whispered to Hitomi. She nodded to her friend, keeping her eyes on Van. Van suddenly tensed up his body.

"It's coming, the dragon!" he said.

"You should leave this place, a land dragon is coming."

"A dragon?" Hitomi didn't understand. The dragons of earth were long extinct. What was he talking about.

More lightning appeared and what looked like a rip in the fabric of existence appeared across the track field. Instead of the chain-link fence, and walkway behind it, now there was a deep forest. A large scaly foot appeared from it's depth and landed with a loud thud on the pavement of the track field. What followed it terrified the three high-school teens. Van was prepared for action.

"Leave now, unless you want to be eaten by a dragon." He shouted at the trio, as he charged for the dragon, which stared at Hitomi and her friends.

"Hey ugly! You're fighting me remember! If you're hungry, feast on me!"

The dragon, with it's green, giant toad-shaped body, long slender neck and snake-like head, turned it's attention to Van. It's chest turned orange and began to enlarge, as if something was going to burst from it. The dragon lowered its head, opened its mouth and released a burst of fire at Van.

Attached to his gauntlet, Van released a folding fire-protecting shield, and lowered his body into it, as the flames engulfed him. When the dragon was out of fire, Van stood up, discarding the burned shield and pulled the crossbow over his shoulder, and shot the dragon directly into one of its eyes. The dragon collapsed to its left side.

"Gotcha!" Van smugly shouted, but the dragon swiftly knocked Van over with its tail. He rolled sideways several times, vomiting once he stopped.

"It'll take more than that to stop me. I'm stronger than you think" he picked up his sword, which had fallen to the ground when he was hit, and took a swing at the dragon's side. It did nothing. The dragon's attention was suddenly drawn to the Hitomi.

"If you want to live, get out of here! Now!" he shouted.

"You heard what he said, let's go." Hitomi lead her friends out of the track field and across the street. Yukari, in a desperate hurry, tripped over her own feet. Amano and Hitomi ran back to her.

"I'm sorry!" she cried.

"It looks like you've twisted your ankle," Amano could see the swelling already.

"Climb onto my back, I'll carry you"

With Yukari on his back and Hitomi concerned for her two friends, they knew the had little options to get away from the dragon. Amano then began to run to a set of stone stairs.

"Hitomi, this way. We'll go to the shrine"

The dragon started after them, but Van was not going to lose the dragon so easily. Just before the dragon ran, Van pulled out a hook attached to his other gauntlet and caught one of the dragons scales.

The trio were by the shrine once the dragon and Van finally reached them. It was about to lunge at them, but Van jumped off the dragon and managed to retrieve its attention. The dragon's chest grew again, ready to set off another blaze. Van jumped just in time to miss the fire. After he regained his footing, he charged at the dragon and slashed down at its side. Nothing again.

"Dammit! This sword just won't cut through those scales." Van growled in frustration.

As Hitomi and her friends watched from the safety of the shrine…

… Van stood in front of the dragon, cursing at his sword for not cutting through the scales. The dragon noticed Vans distraction, and like a scorpion, raised its tail, descending the sharp end of it into Vans back, killing him instantly…

… "Oh no! He's going to die!" Hitomi quickly darted out of the shrine and just as the dragon began descending its tail towards Van.

"Watch out above!" she yelled.

Van looked up and jumped out of the way just in time. The tail barely missed him, slashing through his armour and chainmail shirt, stripping it from him. He stood unscratched, with a red tunic he wore underneath, still intact.

With the dragons tail still embedded in the ground, Van quickly jumped on it, slicing his sword in the dragons weak skin, as he slide down it's back end. The dragon raised it's head, roaring in agony. Van ran around to the front of the dragon and drove his sword into the centre of its chest.

The dragon collapsed, dead. Van began to dig in its chest, until he pulled out a pink orb. Hitomi thought it was the dragons heart, since the dragon quickly turned to dust after it was pulled. Hitomi cautiously approached Van.

"Excuse me. Are you ok?" Van growled at her question.

"Look, I don't need any woman to worry about me!" he snapped at her.

"I suppose you want a reward then. Fine, come to my castle! Just don't get cocky!" he glared at her.

"I apologize for involving you and your friends in my dragon slaying." he turned his nose from her.

"Oh, and by the way, you didn't help me slay the dragon, you know!"

Hitomi came closer, and Van turned his face to her.

*slap*

His cheek was immediately met with the hard-struck palm of her hand. He stood there, shocked.

"What is your problem?" she screamed at him.

"Are you always so pig-headed? I didn't help you for a reward, I did it because I thought you were going to die and I was really scared. The least you could do is say 'thank you'. Grrr, I shouldn't have even saved, I should have just let that stupid dragon eat you!"

She broke down crying after all that and Van just stood there, unsure of what to do next. The pink orb in his hand began to glow.

"The energist!?" he whispered. Hitomi pulled her face from her hands and looked at the glowing orb. They were immediately surrounded by a pillar of light, and began to pulled up into the sky.

Amano rushed to Hitomi as quickly as he could.

"Help me, Amano!" she called out to him, extending her arm for him.

"Hitomi… HITOMI!" he reached out for the girl, but it was too late. The pillar of light spirited Hitomi away from her friends.

Hitomi woke up, immediately noticing she was in a grassy field, surrounded by forests. Off to her left, Van stood, holding his sword in his right hand, and the orb he called an 'energist' in his left.

"I made it." she heard him say to himself, as he looked to the sky.

"What happened?" she asked, and then she followed his gaze. She was frozen in her spot at the site before her. There hanging in the sky was the moon… and behind it the earth.

"Is that the earth? What's going on? Where are we?"

"I'd say we're near the village of Arzas." Van answered calmly.

"What? Arzas?" Hitomi's attention was taken from Vans answer to the forest, where she heard the sounds of howls, growls and could see glowing eyes from the below the tree-line.

I finally understood what they meant. The card of separation and the Ace of Serpents. I could see the earth and the moon above me in the sky, and would soon learn that this strange world, was called Gaea.