Disclaimer: I do not own CCS because they are the creation of Clamp. I do however own this story as well as the characters, places and events mention not relating to CCS and they are my own original work.
Prologue
Theme song: Yiruma's River Flows in You
- The ancients have always told me of a strangely beautiful paradise. A paradise that was once given to us, put down on our world to pleasure us and only us. But perhaps it was that way of thinking, the ancients would say, that the paradise was then taken away from us. It's beauty and glory is now gone, replaced with tyranny and oppression. -
Long ago, for as long as humankind had existed, there had been two worlds that lived in peace side by side. The ancient texts, now mostly destroyed, called the two worlds Aelianus and Laelianus. The former named for the beautiful ray of its magnificent Sun and the latter named, likewise, for its luminescent Moon—a star that shines in this world like no others. The two coexisted sharing the vast cultures and people. And the people, with a diverse array of strange and mythical heritage, had a way of traveling from one world to the other. You see, these two worlds were not separated by vast bodies of water, like we would imagine, but rather by the infinite time dimension. But the people of Aelianus and Laelianus have been endowed with powerful magic and knowledge of sorcery that enabled them to open rifts between the two worlds and meet each other face to face.
It wasn't such a strange idea then as it is now. The descendants of those great magicians are now only shadows of their ancestors. Their powers and knowledge have been greatly diluted; it still exists of course, but none have been as comparable to those first magicians or as great as Emperor Clow Reed. Yes, Clow Reed has been etched into the folktales that grandparents have been telling their grandchildren; his deeds, though dismissed as mere exaggeration now, gave us great hope of a better future, that one day, his descendants will come and bring us out of the darkness that has plagued our disintegrating Empire for generations.
You see, the two worlds used to be very much the same. Although separated by such great barriers, the people lived in harmony side by side. There were two great Kingdoms, two great Kings and one civilization. Laelianus wasn't shaped exactly like its brother. Most of the lands in our world were connected and the weather always colder in the white winters and hotter in the bright summers. Not much is known anymore of Aelianus ever since the period of the book-burnings and then the Great Seperation. But the ancients told me that they believed vast land masses much like Terregal, Freyr or Mycaelis in our world, were called Europia and Afrika in theirs.
It is known that thousands of years ago, the two worlds existed peacefully—that is until one created what was then a blasphemous idea: a structured form of government, a republic. The Sun-worshipers, as the ancients would now refer to them, had decided to forsake their ancestors and the wisdom and knowledge that would accompany. Instead, they adopted a radical idea claiming that such kings and magicians shouldn't exist for they will inevitably corrupt their own civilization. But despite what you might think, the political separation however wasn't what prompted such violence and evil deeds. No, many years passed before a distinct separation was evident. Most people in the land of the Sun had lost their ability to harness magic after generations of disused. The opposite could be said for the people of Laelianus for they had mastered the techniques passed down from their ancestors who had been the first to have been granted such powers. People were traveling less and less to each other's world claiming that the other's society was too different. The Sun-worshipers no longer worshiped the same array of Gods nor bowed down to their glorious sun. Instead they created different Gods, ones with even more power—they claimed.
The Supreme Council, then consisted of nine men instead of six as they do now, advised our King to cease relation with the other world. Emperor Clow Reed was hesitant of such great change for he was a wise ruler. But the High Priests were adamant for they thought that those with no magic should not come into contact with their people—us. They created in secrecy from the Emperor a Board of Obligations made up of the nobles within the court. Deeply thankful to the Supreme Council for giving them such political power, they in turn rally others and soon ever citizens within Laelianus despised the Aelianians. The Emperor was then betrayed by those he trusted and was killed in a great battle between himself and the High Priests. It was believed that the Gods themselves lent their powers to the two sides as they threw thunderous flares of wind and fire and hailed powerful storms. Clow Reed's family was killed but the ancients believed the youngest was able to get away. No one spoke out for the honored Emperor and such ignorance and cowardice was perhaps what started the Great Separation. The process was fairly easy, for the people from the other world possessed little magic to stop us from closing the Gates. Our ancient names were erased from the texts and scrolls; knowledge of such other world were stored within an urn and hidden deep into the snowy mountains; we were no longer Laelianus and had no name for there require none to distinguish us.
Many thought that daily life would go back to normal and that the sun would come up and shine upon us again with such favor. But this did not happen. With the knowledge that they alone had effaced an entire world, the Supreme Council was drunk with power. They alone had the most magic any of our people ever had. They then took it into their hands to control our citizens. Classes were divided first between the wealthy and the poor to the powerful and powerless; slavery was reinstituted; divine magical creatures were gathered up and eliminated for fear of lending their powers to rebels who wished to overthrow the Higher power. Without those creatures, our once beautiful forests then became barren and lifeless. Our once beautiful world was then lost in the abyss.
…………………
A Paradise Once Lost
Present day Tomoeda Japan
7:00 a.m.
"I'm late!" a young girl sat up from her comfortable bed in reflex to the ringing of her pink alarm clock—snooze button punched a long time ago.
The spring morning shone through her window with serene calmness but the girl took no notice of it. Instead she fell on her socks before diving for the stairs to the kitchen.
"Hey squirt what's the hurry?" her brother raised an eyebrow while munching on his toasted bread. His sister ran by with an astounding speed.
"No time to explain!"
"Now wait just a minute young lady where do you think you're going?" Fujitaka grabbed a hold of her backpack and effectively yanking her back.
"Dad what are you doing? Lemme go I think there's a swim practice today!" she waved her arms around futilely.
Her dad gave a sigh, "Sakura what am I going to do with you."
"You don't have school today monster." Her brother seized the moment to call her a name that he hadn't used for a while; a grin plastered on his face.
"Huh what do you mean?" Sakura blinked when nothing has soaked in yet. Fujitaka turned her around to face himself.
"Sweetheart it's only Saturday. Now go change and come back downstairs to eat breakfast." He ruffled her hair.
Dumbfounded, Sakura went back upstairs to change and came back to the kitchen. Touya, still had an amused face sneaked a glance at her every so often. She rested her head on the table and played with the food unenthusiastically.
"It's official, I am an idiot. It's such a good thing I didn't leave the house," she muttered and pictured herself at the school gates, "the embarassment!"
"Yea seriously squirt, without me you're probably late everyday. Not a good thing for high school. Tsk tsk." he put his arms up in reflex and it was just in time to block a piece of bread flying at his head with great speed and accuracy.
"Be quiet Touya I didn't see you stopping me when I was running to the door." she gave a pout.
"Hey what can I say, would I really want to miss the expression on your face when you come back?" at this he laughed lightheartedly.
"I'm so glad you're going back soon." She muttered under her breath again.
He reached over and grabbed her neck, rubbing her head affectionately, "psh admit it you love me."
"Not if you keep choking me! Let go."
Fujitaka came out of the kitchen just in time to hear his two children yelling at each other again.
"Touya please, you're only visiting for a while and already there's arguing in the house." Although he was supposed to be stern when giving a disapproval, he couldn't help but smile at such an endearing sight.
"Oh come on dad, it's not often I get to do this anymore to the little monster." He gave his sister one last nudge on the head before being swatted away by her hands.
"That's a good thing." She gave him a punch to the shoulder and laughed.
Fujitaka suddenly remembered something, "Sakura you remember that tomorrow is your birthday right?"
"Yes of course I knew that." She had in fact forgot.
Touya gave a snort. "If she couldn't remember this was a Saturday I doubt she'd remember what tomorrow would be." He blocked a fist going for his side. "Just for that you're not getting any presents from me."
Sakura made a face, "what were you gonna get me anyways? Pencils like last time?"
"They were paint and paint brushes."
Fujitaka chuckled, "you have to admit that was a nice set." He asked his son, "expensive?"
"Very." Touya sipped the rest of his orange juice.
"Dad! Please I can't even draw!"
Touya shrugged, "who knows maybe someday you might want to practice."
"I did actually, it was supposed to be a monkey but if you look at it from an angle it looks just like you."
"Since it's your special day tomorrow I'll ignore that." He carried the dishes and cups to the sink.
"Well sweetheart, since it's going to be your seventeenth birthday, I want to give you something…special."
"What is it dad?"
"Well today is too early but…you'll see." He got up and went into his office.
Sakura, curious to know what it was, turned to look at her brother but it seemed like he didn't know either.
Their dad came back carrying a small wooden box in his hands. He walked into the living room and asked the two to come sit down on the sofa.
He stared at the outside of the box, "this was your mother's and she always told me, even before you were born, to give it to our daughter on her 17th birthday."
She was guessing that it might be jewelry judging from the appearance of the box and its size. "Mom told you that?"
"Yes, this was precious to her," he opened the box to reveal a gleaming necklace with a small, golden key resting at the end of it, "her mom gave this to her on her 17th birthday too and I guess it's a sort of tradition that you should get it from her."
He took it out and unlatched the clasps. Sakura turned around and moved her hair out of the way as he put it on her.
"Too bad mom isn't here to give it to her." Touya said.
"Yes I know son." He sighed as Sakura turned around to reveal the necklace, worn for the first time in fourteen years. He'd often open the box to look at it whenever he'd miss his wife. And now it being worn on his daughter made the necklace so much more alive—it made his wife so much more alive, especially now looking into his daughter's eyes.
A/N:
This is my first time writing a story ever so please go easy on me! lol I hope you guys like it and i will update Chapter One in a week or two.