"Where am I?" I said groggily, sitting up. I looked around and saw that I was in a small room with no windows and a small door across the room from me. I was sitting on a hard metal table against the wall. This certainly didn't look like my bedroom. Jumping off the table, I walked over to the door and opened it. A bright red light greeted me, so bright that I had to shield my eyes. As my eyes adjusted to the glow, I noticed that I was standing in a vast glass hall. The red light was not actually light, but the reflection in the glass of the land outside the hall. Tentatively, I started down the hall, but stopped when I heard three voices from further down the hall.
"You captured her while she was asleep?" demanded the first voice.
"Well, yeah. It was a lot easier that way," said the second voice.
"Seiya, you idiot!" yelled the third voice. "Can you imagine the shock she's going to have when she wakes up?"
Wanting to hear more, I cautiously proceeded towards the voices, careful that my footsteps didn't echo in the wide hall.
"Yaten, calm down," said the second voice, whom I assumed was the one named Seiya.
"He's right, Yaten," replied the first voice. "Let's go see if she's awake yet."
The third voice, Yaten, sighed. "Alright." A large blue door about 10 feet away from where I was standing opened.
"Eek!" I shrieked and ran, looking for cover. I didn't know who these people were, why I was here, or who named them, and I didn't want to find out. Unfortunately for me, there was nowhere to hide in the empty hall. Shaking with fear, I crouched down on the floor and attempted to hid myself, which was pretty much pointless, because of the red glow from the land outside and the emptiness of the hall. I heard footsteps, three sets of them.
"Seiya!" yelled the first voice. "Look at her! She's scared to death. You should have stopped to think about what you were doing before your brought her here."
"That's not important," the one named Seiya huffed. "What's important is that we explain things to her before she goes into a coma."
"That's the first good idea you've had all day," retorted Yaten. Tentatively, I raised my head to look at them. They sounded more like they were going to hurt each other than me. Looking closer at them, I noticed that they even looked human. That fact made these three handsome strangers completely clash with their unearthly surroundings. The only thing that made them look different from typical Earth males was that they all had long ponytails-one black, one brown, and one white.
"Who-who are you?" I stammered. The black-haired one walked over and knelt down next to me.
"My name is Seiya. This is Yaten," He gestured to the white-haired one, "and this is Taiki." He gestured to the brown-haired one. "Welcome back to Kinmoku, Princess."
"Oh, there you go, Seiya!" cried Yaten. "Just go ahead and spring this all on her at one time!"
Seiya sighed and stood up. "Perhaps I should explain this. Come with me." He held out his hand to help me up. I figured, 'Why not?', took his, hand and slowly stood up. Still holding my hand, he led me to a large green door, which he opened by pushing a red button on the wall beside it. I gasped as the world outside of the hall was revealed to me. The sky was golden, and the ground was a flame-red. The most unusual thing about the planet was that the land was dotted with trees which gave the air a strong olive scent. The entire setting was completely breathtaking. Seiya gestured to our left. Not too far in the distance, I saw a large golden palace, which was surrounded by a beautiful multitude of different colored flowers and trees. A small lake behind a patch of flowers glimmered and reflected the gilded sky.
"What is this place?" I asked incredulously.
Seiya turned to look at me and smiled. "This is your home. Do you like it?" I must have looked extremely confused, because he squeezed my hand reassuringly.
"Hey! Romeo!" Taiki called from behind us. "Before you get all romantic with her, at least explain what's going on!"
"I was not getting romantic," Seiya retorted. "And I was just getting to that." He turned back to me. "Come on. Maybe if I show you the palace interior you'll understand better." I nodded, still taking in the beauty of the setting. Before we started for the palace, I heard Yaten say to Taiki, "You wanna go play 'Crash Team Racing'?"
"Sure," Taiki replied. "But this time, I get to be Coco."
"You guys have a Playstation?" I asked Seiya. He nodded.
"Kinmoku is directly linked with Earth. Sure we're nine billion light years apart, and the people of Earth don't realize it, but there are many similar things. The trees, the Playstation, the fact that we all look human, heck, we even get cable!"
At this point we reached the castle's large, jeweled front door. Seiya pushed it open, and the room we entered made my gasp. The room was golden on the inside, with marble steps on both sides curving up to a room with a huge fountain visible just beyond the entranceways. The most shocking thing about the fountain room was the wall between the doorways. There was a painting hanging there. I pulled away from Seiya's grasp-he had been holding my hand tightly throughout the whole walk to the palace-and ran up the stairs.
"That-that picture!" I stammered. "It looks-it looks- it looks just like me!"
"That's because it is you," said Seiya quietly as he joined me at the top of the stairs. "You were--are, I mean, the Princess of Kinmoku."
"But I don't remember any of this!"
"Of course not. Your memory was erased when you were sent to Earth."
"Sent to Earth?" I looked at him quizzically.
"Yes. Many years ago, this was a beautiful prosperous place. Close your eyes and try to remember..."
I did, and the picture started painting in my mind. I saw the palace, which was as beautiful then as it was now. I saw people, hundreds of people, talking and laughing as they went about their lives in the city surrounding the palace. Everything seemed so happy and peaceful. But the peace was shattered by the sky turning black and hundreds of flaming meteorites flying down from the sky. Chaos ensued as the people screamed and ran for safety. "...the three of us and you were the only survivors," Seiya continued. "To ensure your safety in case something like this ever happened again, we sent you to Earth."
"Seiya desperately wanted to go with you," said Yaten as he and Taiki stepped in from behind the fountain. I didn't even think of asking where they came from. Yaten continued, "But we told him, no, it was better this way."
Seiya finished. "We erased your memory and sent you to Earth to be reborn."
"But why did you bring me back here now? Why not sooner?" I asked.
This time Taiki answered. "There were a couple of reasons. We've spent the last 16 years making sure Kinmoku is safe from attacks like that again. Also, you're exactly the same age as you were when you were sent to Earth. This factor was simply because this way, we are almost picking up where we left off.
"Don't forget..." Yaten said, smirking.
"Oh, yeah." Taiki continued, trying hard to keep a straight face. "It's also because Seiya couldn't get over his desire to see you again. He couldn't sleep, couldn't eat--" He was silenced by Seiya clapping a hand over his mouth.
"Um, anyway," Seiya said, blushing. "I'm sure you're pretty tired after all this excitement, so why don't I show you to your room?"
"No, I'm not tired at all," I said, smiling. "Just the opposite. If it's okay, I'd like to do a bit more exploring."
"You're the princess," Seiya said, returning the smile. "Allow me to be your guide." He took my hand and led me back down the steps. "It's great to see you again, Princess."
For some reason, Yaten and Taiki burst out laughing.