The small boat glided slowly across the smooth, glassy surface of the ocean. This boat was different from many of the boats in the Great Sea- rather than wood, it was made of metal, and rather than sails, it was powered by an "engine," those curious machines that allowed a boat to sail regardless of where the wind blew. However, none of the five men aboard the boat was the owner, and in truth, the five men could never hope to afford a boat like this, whether they paid individually or altogether. But they had been loaned this boat for a special purpose- a merchant guild had asked them to map out an uncharted section of the ocean, an area known as "the Forbidden Sea." Ordinarily, only the most foolhardy would have accepted such a task, but the guild had promised to pay them handsomely for their services, and had even paid half of the reward up front before the men had departed. Once the men completed their task, they would receive the second half of their reward upon their return.

One man stood near the bow of the ship, scanning the horizon through a small spyglass. He had been doing this for the last two hours, since the sun had risen that morning. Like the last few mornings, it had been cold at dawn, but the man figured that if today was like any other day, it would become very hot by noon. Just then, another man approached the bow and asked, "Anything yet, Sato?"

Sato looked back over his shoulder at the other man. "Nope, sorry Takashi. I'll tell you what, though- if today's anything like the last few days, we probably won't find anything."

A third man approached the bow with a fishing rod slung over his shoulder. As he sat down and cast his line, he said, "Well, we should be grateful. It makes out job a lot easier."

Takashi then said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Byakuya. We're not out of sharkgator waters just yet." Byakuya replied, "You know, I heard sharkgator is actually pretty tasty. If I'm lucky I might catch one, or maybe one of those giant whalesquids I've heard about."

"Don't say that so loud. Things have been going fine as it is, and I don't want to give the sharkgators any ideas."

"Byakuya, you might want to put that away," Sato then said. "I can see an island out there." Takashi commanded, "Let me see," and Sato gave him the spyglass. He brought it up to his eye; sure enough, there was a line of brown rising slightly above the blue of the sea. "I need to tell Daichi to get us to full speed and Kenji to steer us… um, thirty degrees east." He handed the spyglass to Byakuya. "Here. I'll be right back." Takashi walked to the stern of the ship. Byakuya then looked through the spyglass and said, "Well, I'll be damned. There really is something out there." He then sighed, and picked up his fishing rod. "I guess breakfast will have to wait."

About half an hour later, the boat dropped anchor just off the shore of the land. The island had been much larger than anyone had anticipated, but worse, it was surrounded by sheer cliffs with no obvious way to climb them. So, the men had steered the boat around the island until eventually coming to a beach on the western half that sloped gradually up to the height of the cliffs. Once anchored, the five boarded a smaller, wooden boat, and rowed to the beach. Once the rowboat landed on the beach, they disembarked. Takashi looked around; there were no plants to be found, from what he could see at least, and other than the sounds of the ocean and the movement of his group, the beach was dead silent. "There's nothing here," Sato said. Then, Byakuya said, "I don't know about you, but this place gives me the creeps."

"Hey, focus," Takashi said. "We have a job to do."

"So, what are we doing?" Daichi asked.

"The guild said we had to map out any islands we came across, take note of its local wildlife and inhabitants, if there are any, and then come back."

"Okay," Kenji said. "Then let's get started."

"Hold on just a second. I think we should scout this place out before we get down to business." He began to trudge up the slope of the beach. As he walked, he noticed something very odd. There were no people on the island, but that had also been the case with the few islands he and the others had mapped out before. However, those islands at least had some plants and animals. Here, there were no animals- no small animals like skunksquirrels or pricklesnakes, no birds, not even insects. There weren't even any plants- no grass, no trees, no bushes, nothing. The only thing on the island seemed to be the coarse sand of the beach, which gradually gave way to dry, cracked earth. "This is creepy," he heard Byakuya say. "Why aren't there any animals?"

"There aren't any animals because there aren't any plants," Kenji replied.

"So why aren't there any plants?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's too cold, or there aren't enough nutrients in the soil."

"If you ask me, I'd say it's because this place doesn't get enough rain," Sato interjected.

Several moments passed as the men trudged up the slope. Daichi said, "Okay, there's nothing here. Now can we start mapping out this place so we can get out of here?"

Takashi replied, "Not yet. We should check the whole island first." The group reached the top of the slope, to be met with a sight so incredible, there was now way it could be real. He rushed forward to the edge of a sudden drop and stopped. The others joined him, staring slack jawed at the sight before them. Finally, Byakuya said, "Um… wow."

Another World

By: Proteus-92

Chapter I: Discovery

Fourteen years later…

The two boys were the only people in the courtyard of the school. In the center of the courtyard was a boy with a deep red shirt and black pants, with black hair and golden-brown eyes; his companion, a boy with a dark green shirt and equally dark green pants, and with brown hair and brown eyes, leaned against a wall along the edge of the courtyard, watching the boy in red go through his exercises: step, punch; step, punch; step, turn, punch, kick. The boy in red paused for a moment, and asked his companion, "Aren't you going to warm up too, Shinji?" The boy in green shook his head. "Not right now, Li. Remember how mad your headmaster got the last time I used Shi Tui here?"

"Oh, that's right. They had to close the school for three weeks so they could repair the dojo." He paused. "But I thought your teacher wanted you to practice every day."

"I do. I just don't do it here."

Li widened his stance, his feet at shoulder width, and took a deep breath. Then, he swung one of his arms, forming a small wall of fire that quickly dispersed. He repeated his action with his other arm, forming another fire wall, then his first, alternating between his two arms, a wall of fire following every swing. Finally, he punched the air, and a massive jet of fire ignited from his knuckles before rapidly dispersing. Li finally exhaled, a small fireball escaping his mouth.

Once Li had finished his demonstration, Shinji said, "I don't know about you, but to me, throwing fire around like that seems kind of… dangerous."

Li looked over at Shinji. "Well, Ci Quan is a dangerous technique, and the first thing they taught me here was that it should only ever be used as a last resort." He then said, "You're one to talk. Making fire is dangerous, but throwing around rocks that weigh twice as much as you do isn't?"

"Hey, Shi Tui was originally for construction, you know." Shinji pushed himself off the wall. "Do you want to head over to my place, Li?"

"Um, I don't know Shinji… I really think I should finish this up first. And don't you have to get back to your store?"

"I closed up shop before I came over here. And come on Li, haven't you spent the last two hours training?"

"…I guess so."

"Exactly. Now come on." And with that, the two boys left the school courtyard and hurried up the road.

Shinji and Li lived in the port town of Misato, on the eastern coast of Huan. Misato was the second largest city on the continent, just after Fujisawa on the western coast. The two cities were separated by the expansive terrain of Huan, punctuated by trading posts and the occasional mining town. But it hadn't always been this way. In the past, Misato had been little more than a small fishing town, but over the past thirty years, thanks in no small part to an explosive growth in population, the small fishing village grew into a prosperous port city. Every day, great steel ships, belching fire and black smoke, departed from the harbor, carrying raw materials and workers to the islands of Shimoji in the southeast; at the same time, others returned, carrying newly produced goods and workers longing for home.

By the waters of the harbor were the docks, the lifeblood of Misato, surrounded by numerous markets and warehouses, where goods were sold and raw materials were stored for exportation. Surrounding the markets sprawled homes, schools, and various other buildings; gradually, the buildings become less dense as one climbs up the hills surrounding the harbor, just as Shinji and Li were doing now. They passed very few people- most would be down at the markets at this time of day, either shopping or running their stores. Eventually, they came to Shinji's house, a small, one-story building built of wood. Li and his family lived a few houses up the road. Shinji climbed the small steps to his front door and pushed it open and stepped inside. He walked inside for a few steps before he realized there were no footsteps following his; Shinji glanced back over his shoulder to see Li standing at the foot of the porch steps. He walked back to the door and asked, "Um, Li? What are you doing?"

Li replied, "Common courtesy says that I'm not allowed to enter someone's house without their permission."

"Li, come on inside." At this, Li began to climb the steps up to the house; Shinji turned and began to go back inside. Behind him, he heard Li say, "Okay, we're here. What're we going to do now?"

"I don't know. I was thinking we could get something to eat, and then we could go and play some rockball outside." They entered the main area of the house, a fairly large room with a small, short table in the center. In the wall across from them was another wooden door that led to the alleyway behind the house, alongside a small wooden window. On the left was a third wooden door that led to the pantry. On the right were two sliding doors of wood and thin rice paper- the mats where Shinji slept were behind the doors on the right. There were no mats behind the door on the left.

Shinji walked over to the pantry and pulled the door open. As he searched around inside, he asked Li, "Is there anything you want?"

"No, thank you." Li then asked, "Shinji, what's that?" Shinji glanced back to see Li pointing up to a rectangular outline in the ceiling. Shinji grabbed a piece of salted meat and replied, "Oh, that just goes up to the attic." He closed the pantry and walked to Li's side. "You want to see what's up there?"

"No, that's okay. I was just wondering…"

"It's okay if you want to." Shinji grabbed the string hanging down from the rectangle and pulled- at once, a steep wooden staircase swung down and hit the floor with a loud thud. The sudden sound made Li jump. Shinji was unshaken, and took a bite from his meat before climbing up the staircase.

"Um… Shinji? Are you sure you're allowed to be up there?" Li asked.

"Li, it's fine. All that's up here is just some old stuff."

"Well… if you say so…" Li climbed up the narrow steps to the attic as well. At once, Li lit a small flame in his hand, driving away the darkness of the attic. "Be careful with that," Shinji said, noticing the flame. The two looked around- a few dust-covered boxes were scattered around, but other than them, and a naginata hanging from two hooks mounted on the wall, the attic was empty. "Okay, we've seen what's up here. Can we go now?"

"Come on, Li. We might find something up here." Shinji began to make his way between two boxes when he heard a rustling sound by his feet. He looked down to see that he was standing on a few loose sheets of paper. He bent down to examine the paper, mumbling to himself, "What's this?" On the paper's surface was drawn an odd shape- to Shinji, it looked like a small flame, turned onto its left side. But most striking was that the "bell" of the "flame" seemed to be shattered with a great hole in the center, surrounded by what looked like jagged, broken teeth.

Li bent down and peered over Shinji's shoulder. "What have you got there, Shinji?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hold on, it looks like there's another one." Li bent down as well, and picked up another piece of paper. After inspecting it for a moment, he then said, "This is a map," and showed it to Shinji. And indeed, drawn on the paper was a map, depicting all the major lands of the Great Sea. At the top of the page was drawn a rough oval shape, with two hook shaped peninsulas coming off, both pointing to the south- the nation of Huan, with the rough rectangle of Sage Island off the southwest coast; to the east was the rough triangle that was Dokuro; in the center of the page were drawn seven irregular shapes that made up the primary Zhong Islands; further west was a crescent alongside a narrow sliver- the two islands of Shimoji; and finally, in the southwest corner was drawn the rough, upside-down L-shape that was Jia.

But there was something… different about this map. In most other maps, the southeast corner was occupied only by empty sea, but here, the space was occupied by that same strange shape depicted on the other paper. In addition, a red line had been drawn on the paper, connecting the southernmost island of Zhong with the mysterious landmass to the southeast. Eventually, Li said, "Hold on, there's something on the back too." He turned over the paper, to see five names written in places all across the back, and he began to read off each one: "Byakuya, Daichi, Sato, Kenji, and Takashi."

"Takashi? That was my dad's name."

"So, this map belongs to your dad?"

"It belonged to him. He left home a little bit after I was born." Shinji looked down at the paper he was holding and turned it over as well- sure enough, those same five names were on the back of that paper as well.

"What happened, Shinji?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure what happened. But, a few years ago, my dad and these guys went out in the Southern Sea to map out islands for some merchant's guild in Zhong. They came back after a few weeks, but then, everybody who'd gone out there began disappearing one by one. My dad was the last one- he just disappeared, a couple months before I was born. All he left behind was a letter to my mom. Do you want to see it?"

"Um… sure, I guess." Shinji quickly climbed down the stairs. He disappeared for several minutes before returning with yet another paper. He bent down and held out the paper so that Li could read it:

My dearest Rin,

I hear the land calling to me. The others have heard it as well, but they were unable to resist its call. Now, only I remain, but I fear that the call has become too strong for me to resist. I cannot imagine the heartbreak I will cause by leaving you and our child, but that land is waiting for me. Even now, I hear its voice inside my head, singing to me, calling my name. There is only one way to end it. I am sorry.

Takashi

Shinji looked down at the paper he had been holding, the one depicting the mysterious landmass to the southwest. He stared at it intently, examining every contour of its coastline- as he did, he felt as though he could hear… whispering inside his head. He couldn't quite make out what the voice was saying but—

"Shinji?" Shinji was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. "What is it, Li?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes."

"Oh. I was just thinking, what if there's something out there?"

"Huh?"

"Well, what if my dad and those other guys found something out there?"

"Shinji, that's crazy." Li held up the map and pointed to the landmass in the southwest. "That's right in the middle of the Forbidden Sea. Nothing good ever comes out of there. Maybe your dad found something dangerous."

"Li, if you find something, and you don't want anyone else to find it, you don't leave a map. I mean, what if he found something important?"

"…I guess that might be true. But what are we supposed to do about it?"

"I think we should get a boat, head down there, and see what we can find."

"Okay, but how are we supposed to—"

"Don't give me that, Li. You said yourself that your family has at least three boats from working in the shipyards. But we don't have to worry about that right away. First, we have to cross overland to get to Fujisawa and find a ferry to Sage Island."

"But why… ugh, fine. But I have to tell my parents first." Li paused for a moment, before having a sudden realization. "What about your store? And what'll happen if my parents won't let me go?"

"Don't worry about me- I can handle things on my end. But I'm sure your parents will let you go, too."