"Kiba Akiharu, you have been found guilty of the murders of Yamato, Kitsune, Hina, and Joskue Akiharu" the judge bellowed, "The sentence is death by beheading!"

The public hearing, or should I say staged sentence, everyone in the region had attended erupted in jeering applause for the death sentence. At that moment my emotions finally caught up to me,tears flowed from my eyes and in the deafening silence teardrops struck the ground. I was distraught and baffled by the very idea that I am accused of such an atrocity.

Yet I could not, hate them. The fact that I was found kneeling over the bloody bodies of my family screaming, didn't help me. At this point I knew I was going to be executed and I could do nothing. Even as the executioner led me to the platform I felt the anger boiling up in me. I was resolute in my decision to say one last thing before my head is cleaved from my shoulders.

As the blade fell I defiantly shouted what were my final words in that world, "I DID NOT MURDER MY FAMILY!"

And then I died.

'wait...what is this...where am I...oh...right I'm dead, they killed me for something...why am I still here...it's dark but I feel odd, what...am I doing...they're-they're all dead...no...no...NOOOOOOO!

BOOOMM!

He awoke screaming in agony, clawing at his neck gasping for breath. Writhing in pain in the dusty charred remains of a once lush green meadow. Through blurred vision Kiba can make out the gentle rays of light peering through the trees. The beams catching the dust and illuminating the air. Despite the ruin around him looking up it was beautiful, bright, and warm but alas his vision went black and he passed out barely conscious of the commotion approaching...

He can hear muffled voices and the dull thud of footsteps around me. What are they saying. I can't hear them, I can't even move. My neck burns as if a collar of flame is tightening itself about my neck, burning my flesh. As quickly as it arises, the pain begins to dissipates and with it my thoughts. Yet still I am lost in sea of questions as they churn in my mind. Thoughts of how I'm alive, where am I, and what is to become of me when I wake.

A voice calls out in the muddy din, I can barely make out what it says...

"Hey are you alright, what happened to you!" it was a girls voice, but Kiba didn't recognize her. He manage to open his eyes half way to see this single person who was concerned with his wellbeing. As his eyes came into focus he was left speechless at the beauty of her, it's almost intimidating. Golden blonde flowing hair and eyes that shone like emeralds, such beauty yet so fierce at the same time, she was an exotic beauty since the only women he had ever seen had black hair and onyx eyes.

"whew...you're alright but how did you get here and what happened to this place the whole meadow is incinerated", she says sounding frantic but relieved.

I managed to speak, but it was not what I wanted to say,"Th-they killed me, didn't they, why am I alive?" At those words a single tear slid from my eyes. And again I fainted...

-Espada Estate- -6 hours earlier-

Dawn

It was a brisk morning in Micella Roja, a small but wealthy town in Fiore, the birds sang, the turtles basked in the sun's rays for warmth. To Aria Espada, this was a perfect day, she woke early to watch the sunrise, and shirked her daily duties to her family's estate and headed out to Sentara woods. The other day she had been wandering through the wood, when she came upon a meadow it was a tranquil place, devoid of the bustling noise of the town. She hoped to spend the morning there with her friend Marina Chantal, but Aria wanted to get there early so she went on ahead. She walked through the cool woods stepping in and out of the dappled sunlight humming to herself. Aria was climbing down off a fallen log when she noticed something unsettling, there was an ominous light over the hill ahead of her. As soon as she reached the top of the hill she saw that in the center of the meadow a singular orb of flickering red light. As she gazed at the odd light perplexed by its very existence, the air grew heavy and the sickly stench of blood lingered. Aria gagged and coughed at the smell,"What...what's happening 'cough'". Then all at once the meadow exploded in violent flames and she was thrown on her back by the force of the blast. The young lady staggered to her feet to see what had happened, but what she saw she could barely comprehend.

There was the figure of a person lying on the ground in the center of the crater that remained of the meadow. Whilst the dust settles a young boy around Aria's age lay still as a corpse in the midst of the debris. The scene was horrible confusing to Aria, trepidation halted her urge to see if the boy was alive. Breath held in anticipation for every single moment that passed, the boy's head lurched up, he was clawing at his throat. Gasping for air as his eyes rolled up in head. His ink black hair shimmered and turned to crimson. He suddenly slumped back to the ground, still as stone, but breathing.

Aria was trembling as she approached the unconscious boy, still in disbelief of what she had seen. Shaking off the nerves she rushed to his side, jostling his shoulder trying to wake the boy. Aria was frantic, she started to cry and kept calling out to the mysterious boy in red she had found, "please wake up, what happened to you,..'sob'...why aren't you moving!?"

As a silvery tear ran down her cheek and fell to his, he coughed and wheezed as his eyes fluttered weakly open. She looked into his vibrant golden eyes, she caught her breath at the deep sadness and utter loneliness in those eyes. He managed to open his mouth to speak but what he whispered to her only raised more questions, 'they killed me, didn't they? Why am I still alive?'

He passed out. A short while after Marina had arrived just as she and Aria had planned but to her surprise the lush green meadow was all but ashes.

Shortly after Marina had showed up Aria's father had arrived, Arturo Espada, to his relief his daughter was fine but what caught his eye was the young man that she had with her. They had brought him back to the estate, where Arturo had him tended to. Aria's father insisted on knowing what had taken place, so after bringing him up to speed on the events that transpired, he took on a thinking pose, "Hmmm, so he just appeared out of thin air, and when he spoke he said someone had killed him?" Aria simply nodded. "We should….,"

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh..…!"

The two rushed to the boy's room to see him sitting up , and breathing heavily. He held is hand over his neck, his face contorted in agony. "Are you alright!?" Aria shouted. The look of terror disappeared when the boy saw Aria, yet his eyes still held a deep sadness to them, "Wha...where am I ?" Aria was hesitant to speak at first, "…My name is Aria Espada and we brought you here to my home when we found you... well I found you...out in the woods...," she trailed of at the end not knowing what to say to the guy. He had seemed to calm down, from whaat she could gather, when he spoke back in the woods, he thought he had been killed. she didn't know why she felt the thought of him dying made her so sad and hopelessly dejected, she barely knew who he was so why did she feel these emotions for him. 'Wait...I don't even know his name,' Aria started thinking before she blushed at the implications.

Archeron attempted to salvage their first impression on the boy as his daughter continued with fantasy. "Ehem..., excuse my daughter but by any chance would you happen to be mage, from what my daughter told me I can only assume that it was by some form of magic...you weren't attacked by a Dark Guild, were you?" he questioned, but Kiba only shook his head not even sure what they meant by mages or Dark Guilds.
"Um my names Kiba, if you wouldn't mind, what country am I in," Kiba politely asked, "and what the closest guild is?"

Aria seized her chance to show what she knew as well as to give her father a convincing reason to let her set out on an adventure of her own. she had been learning magic and wanted to join a guild, and the arrival of Kiba was her chance to leave home. "You're in Fiore, and the closest guild is Cait Shelter I can show you the way since I'm going there myself!" her father was about to protest before she gave him a look that said he wouldn't win the argument. She was going to be a guild mage and Kiba would be her teammate and that was that.

She and him would join Cait Shelter and make it famous!