THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALM

Prologue: The Gate

The school bell chimed three times. It was 4h30 pm, class was finally over. We stood up to say goodbye to our teacher and prepared to go home. For most of us, school wasn't a comfortable place, so it was easy to understand when someone compared the moment after school as a liberation. A general mentality, one could say.

Oh, I should introduce myself. My name's Hikari Minosuke (視の助光 - mi no suke hikari: light, sight's assistance), a second-year student of Kyoto University. I used to live alone with my uncle and aunt in a coastal province since my parents had passed away due to a terrible disease, or that was what my uncle had said. I had recently moved into my grandparents' house near the university so as to be convenient for me to go there. At university, I didn't have many friends, since I wasn't social. The only impression I left was that I had beaten many bullies. To be honest, I was allergic to them, so much that whoever they messed with, even with me, if I saw them, they were done for. Though my true intention was to protect the defenseless, my method seemed backfired, creating an even bigger gap between me and them. About other aspects, I had nothing to say.

I always walked from home to university and vice versa on a small path now filled with sakura flowers. It was almost spring now, the breeze tapped into my face its cool touch, wiping away the fatigue of schooling. The sun was setting down, it looked like a hot big red ball at the horizon, trying to spread its last rays before giving up its place for the night. I let myself absorb in thoughts of my childhood at the spring festival as the sakura fluttered in the wind's melody.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called my name, dragged me back to reality. It was Kōmyō, my classmate and my long-lost childhood friend. She had silky long black hair worn in a ponytail, her gentle face always bore a bright smile. She also had an angelic voice that can mollify even the grumpiest man. We had lost touch in the catastrophic earthquake which had struck Japan in 2011 and had destroyed Fukushima nucleus thermoelectric factory. It's been 7 years since the incident, I still remember the astonishing moment when I saw her again at university on my first day. I quickly asked about her family. She revealed that her father had died protecting her and her mother. After class, I went to her house to pay her family a visit. From then on, our relationship becomes more than just friendship. I had to admit that I had a feeling for her, but I wasn't brave enough to tell her. Since we lived in the same quarter, we usually walked home together. We chatted a lot whenever we meet.

"Thinking about something, Hikari?" she giggles.

"I'm just enjoying the beautiful view here", I reply with a smile.

"So, have you had a thought about your future job?" she suddenly asks.

"Well, I don't have to worry much about that. I'll inherit my grandpa's dojo, I really enjoy teaching children martial art! Of course, he agreed!"

"Wow, that's awesome! I love working with children, too! That's why I'm going to be a teacher".

"Which domain are you going to teach?"

"Not gonna tell you!"

"Ah, come on!"

"Okay then, 3 guesses!"

"Is it Math?"

"Nope! Try again!"

"Hmm… History, I guess…"

"I maybe good at it, but not in the list, sensei!" she grins playfully.

"Ha! I know, I snap my fingers, if there's something you're good at, that's gonna be music!"

"Bravo! You won, Hikari!" she cheered as she gave my back a painful slap. I have been her closest friend, how could I possibly don't know a single thing about her talent. Then, something came to my mind. Since passing in to university, we haven't actually had a period to hang out together.

"It's three days until New Year, what do you think if we go to the shrine and after that, we'll go on a picnic?"

"Really? I will ask for my parents' permission then."

"You guys intend to go without us? That's not fair!" a voice reached us from behind.

We turned around to see that Satori and Hidemitsu were right behind us.

"I thought you were going to the café", Kōmyō says.

"No, the café is closed", replied Satori, "The owner is having a one-week vacation at Ōsaka. I intended to call you guys over for a chat about going to the shrine first, but it seems Hikari just got the upper hand!"

"Alright!" said Kōmyō, "Sensei, what is the plan then?"

"Sensei?"

"He's going to be a martial art teacher."

"Ah, yes, that fits him. Just hope that he doesn't trip like in the last fitness te- Ouch! What was that for?"

Satori's careless mouth gifted him a bump on his head. I made that kind of embarrassing accident which had got my ankle sprained because of my subjective thought. And of course, the whole class had had a refreshing burst of laughter. Even the professor didn't believe I could fail that simple long jump test.

"Ahem! Well, first, we'll perform the hatsumōde as usual, then we'll find a nice spot for a spring selfie and a picnic. After that, we'll go to spring fair. How does that sound?"

"Great! And about the trip, I'll tell you guys one magnificent spot where my family used to come when we get there!" Hidemitsu said with pride in his eyes.

"So, when will we go?"

"It's going to be extremely crowded those days, so around 4 o'clock should be okay." And then we parted ways.

"Kōmyō..." I spoke to her before I took the turn to my house "I also intend to go back to our hometown to pay respect to my parents. So, if you..."

"Anytime you want," she held my hand gently as she whispered "just let me know. Our families can go there together. See you tomorrow!"

And everything went smoothly afterward. Both their parents and my grandparents agreed about our little trip, and so everything was set.

Around 3:18 am, I was awakened by the doorbell, since I slept in the room downstair. I went to open the door with the pajama still on. I was kinda surprised to see my friends standing in front of my house.

"Sorry, Hikari", Satori said with an embarrassing smile, "We had a change of plans last night but I forgot to tell you!"

"Let me guess, you were too hooked on beating the newly released game of this year, weren't you?"

Looking at his embarrassing face was enough to know that I hit the mark. "It's okay! Even if you called me, I couldn't be able to reply since I always set my phone to 'Do not disturb' mode when I sleep."

"We intended to move the rendezvous time sooner because most of the shrines were overcrowded yesterday", explained Kōmyō.

"Then, I'll go change my clothes. Wait here!"

We left the house and arrived at the torii ten minutes later. It was really cold, and to our surprise, the whole place wasn't as crowded as we had expected. After we had done offering our New Year's prayers, we went to buy some charms, but something happened that would change my life forever.

"Come on, guys!" Satori said excitedly, "We're going to take the bus to get there! Hurry up or you'll miss it!"

"Okay!" we said in unison.

As we were going downstairs, a loud thunderclap from behind almost beat the heart out of our chests. We turned around to see a small fog ball appeared at the middle of the torii. It generated sparks and strong wind and started to grow bigger. The crowd went panic, running away from the strange entity. We, too, tried to run away from it as fast as possible, but Kōmyō suddenly tripped at the last staircase and got her ankle sprained. I had to carry her while Hidemitsu and Satori supporting me.

The wind at first blew wildly, then its current changed, dragging everything toward the fog ball now has grown into a black hole of sort. We were really in a bad situation now, being the nearest to the black hole with Kōmyō's injury and the strong current, we had to cling onto a trunk nearby to wait for help. It was really dangerous since there were flying objects around us. While struggling to help Kōmyō, my hand slipped from the bark. I was blown to the hole's direction, but managed to grabbed on to a chain from the fence in front of the torii. At the moment I thought I was going to make it, a frying pan flew at me and hit me in the head. I lost consciousness and fell into the black portal. Everything that I remembered was the voice of my beloved friends shouting my name as the world spiraled into darkness.