Chapter 1: The Rendezvous

"I am Minerva the oracle of the Kingdom of Celesta. Tonight the celestial bodies align together to unravel a prophecy that entwines the destiny of certain souls that will revolutionize the fate of the world. So goes the prophecy…" enunciated a woman clad in mauve with golden-yellow patterned ceremonial dress, which allied to magic and all that is celestial. Although her physique showed her to be in her early 20's, her shrewdness was that of an aged; the place had the atmosphere of the supernatural… magic circles, celestial signs, mysterious ambiance and everything else.

"Kristine, are you paying attention to what I'm saying? Kristine? Kristine?"

"Huh? The prophecy? What?" I looked to where the voice was originating. Uh-oh looks like I'm in big trouble. I jumped up from my seat immediately; "I'm so sorry, Meoh sensei" I smiled sheepishly. I wonder how I'm gonna get out of this trouble. This is the fifth time I'm doing this in a week. But this wasn't how I used to be before. I was a very attentive and brilliant student, not that I'm not anymore, just that I keep daydreaming all the time in class nowadays.

"Here we go again" said Saitomi in nonchalance, running her hand through her purple hair, looking at me with her beautiful but emotionless navy blue eyes, which actually made my heart jump. It wasn't her usual self; she's never been cold or emotionless. It looks like she's fed up with me getting into trouble.

"You're daydreaming again!" Miss Meoh reprimanded, giving me a slightly pointed stare with her pale green eyes. She was in her late 20's, tall, fair, slim and very pretty. Her long auburn hair rolled into a chignon. She had a great personality that left an everlasting impression, kind, gentle, understanding but also strict when necessary.

"This is unacceptable. I can't have my students to day dream in my class. If you find my classes boring then stay out of my class. Now! Translate this sentence in English if you are serious in attending my class," she said in her angry and injured tone. She couldn't stand the fact that her bright and much loved student day dreaming in class. English is one of my favorite subjects; literature, poetry, short stories, plays; they just seem to enthrall me. These days I've been daydreaming a lot, not because I want to. It just happens for reason which I can't understand either.

"Erm, yes Mam." Damn! I wasn't paying any attention. I wonder which sentence she wants me to translate anyway? Things can't get any worse than this and most of all this is embarrassing. I'm usually the quiet kid in class; I hate getting myself under the spotlight; but then again this is high school anything can happen.

"Line 20, page number 50," whispered Saitomi. She's one of my best friends, Saitomi Sakurano. She's smart, energetic though a bookworm, can be a bit naïve, cold and indifferent at times but indeed a very sweet person whom I really love, oh yeah she's a bit of a worry wart especially when it comes to matters relating to me. We're second year high school students of the Matsumoto High School.

I whispered a word of thanks and started translating the sentence. Hey! What do you know, this sentence kinda describes the current situation; although I shouldn't be saying it when I'm in this much trouble. "When we visited the volcano, it was in a state of eruption."

"Kristine, just because you're a bright student doesn't mean that you shouldn't be paying attention in class. I won't tolerate this anymore. The next time you repeat this I'm taking you to the principal's office." The moment I heard that one word, I practically fainted. I could almost feel my stomach drop down to my feet.

I can understand how much she didn't want that to happen and of course she was upset because she knows that I'm a person who takes school pretty seriously. Lucky for me the bell rang before I annoyed her even more. This time for certain she knew that I was never gonna daydream in any class again. The class monitor commanded "Stand, Bow." We wished her and she left.

"There! You've done it again" Saitomi sniffed. "What is it that you daydream? Well anyway you better not do that again or you'll be in trouble, big time." She was really worried about me; even though her voice didn't convey it I could tell. This time she was a bit annoyed too; guess she was getting fed up of worrying about me.

"Tell me something I don't know. Hey! It's not like I'm doing this on purpose or anything", I groaned. "Let's go home", she said with a slender smile. "Right", I replied, feeling a bit relieved that the day had finally come to an end. We both walked home, enjoying the panorama. We didn't talk much today like we usually did, we were not in a mood to talk. But hey, at least we enjoy each other's company. We reached my house and so we parted.

"I'm back," I hollered. Oh! Mom's not back yet, she must be at some important meeting; she's an engineer working for a big company. It seems that her opinions and decisions are very important. Well that's Alexandra Adelaide Montgomery for you; intelligent, diligent, bold and a very gorgeous person. I look like her, or so people say. Well I don't see much resemblance. Me! Well I'm not that interested in making myself look all that beautiful, just be casual that's all.

Hmm… my younger brother is not back from school either. Oh yeah…. he said he was gonna stay back at school till 5:00. It seems that he's got basketball practice. Him? Well he's pretty bubbly, a great basketball player like my dad, loves to get under my nerve, always waiting for a chance to annoy me but hey he doesn't mean any harm, just trying to grab all my attention. We both are pretty close. He's 3 years younger to me, very mischievous and so am I. Well that's Chris Deon Montgomery.

I know, I know… All my family members have names like that of a character out of a fantasy novel or something. Well it seems that my grandparents are so fond of these kind of names, mine is no exception either, Kristine Liya Montgomery.

I started off with my daily routine, gathering materials for my novel on the net. Writing is one of my hobbies and the favorite; it's more like my stress reliever. Huh? What's this, a new application? It was a funny looking chat room. Hundreds of people were hectically chatting with one another, discussing about animes, mangas etc; well there was a bit of politics and public matter too. I didn't bother about it; I was busy searching for some material. But suddenly something caught my attention, someone was harassing a girl, simply for the reason she hails from Vietnam, racist jerk. How dare he? Everyone has equal rights to use this website, no discrimination of any sort. I was so irritated; I entered the chat-room and punched in "Racist fool! Leave her alone, what right do u have to harass her, nobody here tolerates a racist and don't ever show up again." The guy got petrified and left immediately and the girl thanked me. With that I was about to leave, just then something else came up.

"Hi there", chirped someone. Trying to figure out who it was, I looked for the username. It read Takeo. Feeling a little amazed I replied "Oh…. hi". "Guess you beat me to it. He's been doing that for a long time now and I was just about to beat some sense into him. N'ways, way to go" he said. He seemed to be a friendly guy, but I didn't let my guard down. I have very little faith in people whom I meet online. With that we started chatting.

"Nice to meet you Liya, I'm Takeo by the way." I figured he read my username and it didn't bother me much to correct him. Well I thought I shouldn't be rude, so in order to carry on the conversation I asked; "So how was your day today?"

"I guess my day was fine, as usual. How was yours", was his reply. "Well same here" I didn't want to tell a total stranger all that had happened that day. The conversation continued with us chatting about our neighborhood and school and all the other everyday activity. After all that chatting he seemed to be a pretty decent guy with a striking personality. It was fun chatting with him.

"You seem to know exactly how I feel about things just by talking to me, that's pretty cool" he commented. I was astounded by his comment; I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks. Yeah I was blushing indeed. "Well I have my way of knowing how people feel and what kind of person they are when they talk to me. I can know even if we're not speaking to each other in person. Well it's not always the same case, sometimes I go wrong", I replied with a tinge of apprehension.

"Wow, that's great, well I guess you'd make a great psychologist one day." Now I was really turning bright red. Then he went on to say "Hmm, well it's just that at school everyone treats me like a big wheel or something just because I'm so good at sports and all."

"So I see you're the most popular guy in school huh? Shouldn't you be happy about it? Guess you're not; you like to stay clear of the spotlight, don't you? Like me. My advice, just ignore them. After a while they'll get fed up."

He was pretty amazed at what I said. We talked for a little while longer and then it was time for me to leave.

"Oh I've got to go. See you around." It was time for me to start doing my work, if my mom found out that I was slacking off, I'm dead meat. So I logged off.

"I'm back" chirped my mom. "Oh! Welcome back mom" I answered almost falling out of the chair. "What are you doing on the computer", she asked artlessly. "Well I was just surfing the net and chatting with a friend", I replied waiting for another dose of trouble. "Alright, it's past 5:30. So go start your work already," she said tenderly. Fortunately she was in a good mood, thus I was saved from the other dosage.

"Ok I'm going", I replied gleefully. "Where's your brother, is he not back yet?" inquired my mother with a vexed look on her face. "No. He said he was staying back at school for basketball practice" I answered wondering if he was about to get into trouble, it's already passed the time he got back home.

"Hey, I'm back" sang Chris. "Where were you", my mom and I shot at him. "You're late. Next time you do that you're in big trouble," mom huffed angrily, slightly glaring at Chris.

I was standing at the middle of the stairs wondering what he was going to do next. Well I already knew that he wasn't in trouble this time, but his reactions could amend that anytime.

He just climbed up the stairs making his way to his room. For one moment there I thought he wasn't gonna try anything stupid, but the next thing I knew he kind of pulled me when he passed me.

I was wobbling on the stairs about to fall, but in the knick of time I caught the railings with my left hand and Chris caught me by the right. I saw the dumb expression on his face; well he didn't mean to make me fall off the stairs.

"Why you little…"I snarled, when, "Don't start or I will" my mom sharply interrupted. Like I said he's just waiting for a chance to get under my nerve, well it's our daily routine after school, 15 minutes of skirmishing and bickering. To be honest we both kind of enjoy it.

"What's you're problem Chris?" I whined. "Why do you always have to start a fight? Look I know that you're doing this to gain my attention. But you know we won't be together for too long, after 2 years I'll be leaving for college then what are you gonna do."

I noticed that the smirk on his face has faded. He was glaring at me now. "Alright I'm sorry. And stop reminding me about your going off to college. I'll think about it later". I knew that he got hurt, me going off to college is the last thing he needed to hear now. Beneath all this fighting and bickering we both love each other so much, that being away from each other was like air devoid of oxygen. By this time we were both very tired so we decided to call it a day.

I went to my room and started doing my home work. Oh boy! Did I ever have a lot of work than usual? After going through all of today's commotion I decided to retire for the night.

A few minutes later I was standing beneath a mystical tree which bore a lot of gemstones. Its leaves were a vibrant green with pale cerulean tips. The gems were of different colors each. It had a very mystic feeling to it. "Where am I? What am I doing here?" This tree, it's so beautiful. "Is this even for real?"

"Hey sis, wake up you're late for school. Hey sis! Liya-nee~chan! Wake up!" Chris called.

"Huh? What?" I opened my eyes looking straight at my alarm clock. "Oh nooo…. I'm late…" Was that a dream, but it felt so real? "Why didn't you wake me up a little earlier, you midget?" I dressed up hurriedly, gulped down my breakfast and tore up the streets towards my school. I was dodging a lot of obstacles on the way, Miss Mei Li's cat, Mr. Ken's cart, stack of cans and boxes, crates and cartons. Finally I reached school, I had 3 more minutes to race up that stairs and get to my class before Miss Meoh does. Man! I didn't want to get into trouble first thing in the morning.

I opened the door and darted across the room to my desk and slid into my chair, panting. "Close shave" Saitomi snickered. "Really close" I said, smiling sheepishly.

"Good morning class" chirped Meoh sensei as she swept across the classroom. I almost jumped out of my chair. She looked my way and gave me a silky smile. Well I guess she meant that she forgave me for yesterday. "Alright, class we're going to have a surprise test today. Dylan, please give out these papers".

Surprise test? Man that really was a surprise or even a shock, what am I gonna do. I've been daydreaming in all her classes now I don't know anything or what she's teaching. Right when I was thinking that today won't be like yesterday. Somebody please get me out of here. Saitomi and I gazed each other frantically.

Suddenly there was sheer silence which was kind of peculiar and then I heard "Excuse me, Meoh sensei. The principal wants to see Montgomery-san and Sakurano-san."

I looked over to the door way to find my savior, who came to rescue the damsel in distress like a prince on a white horse. Whoa, whoa, whoa, looks like the constant chain of distress is making me suffer from a serious case of concussion. Ha-ha… well sorry about that.

Well he did come to my rescue, though I wouldn't say that I'm a "damsel" in distress, but he is more like a prince. He is the most popular guy in our school. I could see all the girls in my class swooning over him now and even the boys admired him.

"Liya and Saitomi may leave" Meoh sensei said feeling irritated. I noticed that she was getting aggravated with her class acting so pathetically. So we left quickly.

"Wonder what the principal wants with us" Saitomi muttered. We darted into the principal's office. He was sitting in his chair, waiting for us to enter. He was a very friendly and kind person, who always smiled at everyone. But once you anger him then you'll never hear the end of it.

"I have got some news for the both of you…" he said warily, searching for a reaction from our face and paused for a short while. "You've got the admission to the prestigious school in Yokohama."

I was flabbergasted by that news. Saitomi and I were rooted to the spot, thunderstruck. Recovering from it a few seconds later; "Awesome" Saitomi squealed in a low voice. "Well it's about time" I said jubilantly.

"You two can go join by next week. By then settle things here." The principal advised. He was indeed very happy for us.

"Yes, of course" Saitomi and I echoed. This calls for celebration.

We hurried back to class filled with excitement and joy. The class was already over by the time we got back, Meoh sensei was coming out of the class. I dashed towards her to tell her the news. She was delighted by the news and wished us luck. Well today was the complete opposite of yesterday, what I was really happy about was that I didn't get into much trouble today. I sauntered into the classroom, Saitomi already told our close friends about it.

"We're celebrating today, after school" demanded Kazumi contentedly. The rest of the gang, Sakura, Hideki, Kazune, Shiro and Toya approved the opinion. I could trace the slight aura of gloom among the group though. Well it is heartbreaking indeed to part after being so close to each other. The eight of us have been the best of friends since elementary school. I didn't want to elevate the grief so as usual I tired to pull up some jokes to get rid of the gloom.

The rest of the classes went on as usual and before I knew it the day had come to an end. Nothing else other than the teacher announcing our transfer to Yokohama and the witty commotion during the lunch break had happened. Witty commotion? Well that was just Shiro and Toya trying to get under Kazune's nerves, which ended up in a witty food fight.

"Time for celebration; come on let's go" Kazumi hollered. So we all walked towards our favorite café and ordered some cheese cakes and ice creams. It was our last day together, since I and Saitomi were leaving tomorrow morning. We enjoyed it to the best. Sakura and Kazumi wanted to get something for us as a gift, so they dragged us into a mystique antique shop and bought us both a pendant each. The shop was filled with all sorts of mysterious ornaments and antiques. Sakura and Kazumi knew of my predilection for things like these.

The moment I touched the pendant, a bright blue light shone and I was sucked into another world. "What the heck is going on? Where am I?" I frantically enquired. Suddenly I felt a cold-sweat run down my spine and I stood rooted to the spot, staring at the commotion that was happening before me. Is it really what I think it is? Yes!... It is. It was a battlefield and I was right in the middle of a dreadful war, like in the 18th century.

I could see blood splattered, injured soldiers and severed limbs everywhere. It was a very horrible sight, I wanted to puke but I couldn't. I was scared to death. What was happening? Is this even for real? One moment I was in the antique shop and the next I'm here. What's going on? Right then I felt something go right through me; somebody stabbed me with a sword from behind. No!... This can't be happening to me. Wait…. I don't feel any pain, what?... I'm not even bleeding. It was as if I was a ghost in that world. Everything seems to pass right through. The stab was not meant for me but for a soldier, he fell right before me, sputtering blood. I screamed out loud, I couldn't hold it anymore, I was crying.

"Sho…. No!" cried a woman. I turned to look at her. A young man; a soldier…. no an aristocrat, he was slain. There was something he was protecting, a jewel. Even as he was dying, he was unwilling to give it up, he clasped it so tightly. I walked towards the couple tentatively, it was heartbreaking, and I couldn't bear to see the tears the woman cried. But before he breathed his last, he managed to tell her something which seemed very important.

"Rin…, protect this stone… no matter what….; in no way should it end up in the enemy's hands. Take the stone back to the palace and tell Lord Nicholas that I've fulfilled my obligation….. and that I left without any regrets or remorse". His words struck through me like thunder. They were so powerful that it immobilized me. Suddenly….. I realized that the pendant I was wearing was a part of the stone she was holding.