~Re: Write Destiny~
1st Star: The Day I'll Never Forget~
~ The world has many passions that occur within it. Day by day there are emotions. Every season has changes in weather. Every century there are new tribulations and resolutions. Every generation has a spirit growing. However, during the time before life began in this world, the cosmos seemed to have passions of its own. The bright star that shot from the cosmos flew and entered the atmosphere; then finally crashed deep into a world, causing a large collision, a new land, and a beginning.~
"I'll be heading out to play now mom!" a young child yelled to what seemed to be his mother while heading outside into the pleasant, warm summer noon. This child had short, midnight hair. He has pitch black eyes with an expression that showed his innocence of his soul. He was a bit short for a twelve year old, but he still acts a bit more mature… in some way. His name is Kyouten Hishou.
"Okay! Come back before sundown sweetie!" replied his mother. There was a reason why people should be in homes before sundown. This land was cursed. It was cursed with eternal war, or so told. The land has gone through many wars, either between kings, people, armies, dictators, or even ancient creatures. Anything can happen, especially at night.
After a run to see his friends, Kyouten, also known as Kyou, greeted them.
"What took you so long?" scolded Takas, one his oldest friends out of 5, in a friendly manner.
"I was uhh… taking a nap! Yea! Taking a nap!" Kyouten replied with discomfort.
At that moment Takas put his hand on Kyouten's head. "Sure you were kiddie. Comon! We're going to the forest and test out this new sword I got!" Kyouten was only two years younger than his fourteen year old friend Takas. Takas had gravity defying white spiky hair at all times even in the rain, with his favorite white jacket that made him easy to identify. The jacket wasn't completely white though, the cuffs of the jacket held a lovely faded navy color to it as well. The hood to the jacket seemed scarf-like when it wasn't atop his head, which was most of the time. The bottom of the jacket seemed to have many triangular tips to it rather than just that simple flat clean cut to it. It was also in a navy blue tone, but at the tips of it there was a red and green type of target maybe two inches into the tip of the triangles that pointed downward. The hood to that jacket though, was a faded sea green, which tied all four colors together. This is Takas's jacket, the one and only original one and he called it lucky.
The sword Takas held out was sharp to the tip. The edge was very thin and was straight until the tip, where it starts to intercept into the middle with the opposite end and causing a sharp point.
Kyouten jerked Takas's hand off his head. "Hey! Don't look down on me! I may be younger but I am not to be under elevated!"
"You mean 'underestimated'." Takas corrected as he laughed.
"Grr… you…"
"Try talking smart when you're old" Takas said as he laughed more.
A giggle was heard from one of his friends, it was a nice giggle from one of two standing there. The friend of his had long flowing brown hair that reminded him of the earth, her eyes the shinning moon lit leaves of a tree. She wore a lovely long sleeved brown jacket, the turtle neck of her yellow shirt and sleeves poking out from under it. She wore a bright red skirt, one that reached about calf height and a matching red beret. A pair of knee high brown boots finished her onsomble. She was Aisha Taira.
"Hey! Don't laugh! You know I'm not a kid, do you Aisha?" Kyouten questioned.
Aisha wore a warm smile and replied. "There's nothing wrong with being a kid, Kyouten. We are all kids in the inside."
"Ooouu…" Kyouten sighed.
Soon Takas spoke up. "Comon! Let's hurry to the forest!"
The group set off to the nearby forest. There were a lot of trees sturdy enough to test out Takas's sword. Takas seemed to be skilled with the one-handed weapon pretty well. The other's watched in amazement except for Rei, the "cool" guy. He was anti-social most of the time. He usually have a toothpick, a straw, or a lollipop in his mouth.
As they set off deeper to the forest, someone seemed to have beaten them there.
"There you all are! So slow! Tsk tsk tsk!" said the fourth friend of their group. Her named was Chieru Delis. She did not seem like a normal girl; she was more of a tomboy, actually. "Oh Rei! I didn't know you were coming!" She said as she threw herself on him. Though Rei didn't look like he liked it, he didn't bother to throw her off, and they did seem to like each other, in some unknown way.
Amused and getting back, Kyou and Aisha grabbed nearby sticks and acted like samurais. That is what they did the whole time. During the time, they took a photo of themselves for future references and were attached to pocket lockets.
During a moment of rest, Kyouten and Takas were sitting next to each other overseeing a wonderful view of the village and the near red sky.
"Kyouten…" Takas called out to him.
"Hm?" Kyouten asked while swinging his legs as they were sitting on a sturdy tree branch.
"Well, during my duty as a guard, I'm not required to wear a jacket because it would cause me to get over exhausted quickly."
"So?"
"So…" Takas removed his jacket and tossed it to Kyouten unexpectingly, nearly causing him to fall. "Take it, I have no use for it anymore."
Kyouten recovered his balance. "Oh? Something of yours is in the way of the great Takas Warrior?"
Takas looked away. "It's not that! I just figured you would take care of it, being a bit more caring than Rei."
"Then why not give it to Aisha?"
"You goof. It's a male sized jacket." He started to laugh. Kyouten joined in his laughter. They seemed to be more connected to each other than they appear to act.
"Okay, Takas." Kyouten said looking at the jacket. "I'll take care of it."
After the day was done, everyone headed home before the sunset. On their way, they saw an elder. He stared in Kyou's eyes and said, "Soon little one… soon…" Kyou could not understand well what the man was saying though.
Kyou lay down on his bed after supper and thought about how he would be able to enjoy this place. He had no doubt in his mind. During his sleep, he heard a tap on his window. It was near 2 AM. Who would be up this late at night?
Surprised, it was Aisha.
"Oh! I'm sorry for bothering you so late…" Aisha apologized.
"No worries… but what for?" Kyouten asked.
"Well… I forgot to bring it earlier so…" She held out her hands. She made a gift for Kyou since she has known him more than the others. It was a necklace, handmade from her since her family was in jewel crafting. It had different colored gems for the string and was very pretty. In the middle of it all, there was a shape of a circle and the Yin-Yang symbol that represented an equal balance of things in life. Kyou was surprised with the gift.
"Wow! This is amazing!" He honestly awed.
Aisha smiled. "I made it all by my self. It is extra strong to withstand a lot of pressure and weather. Just for you."
"Thanks a whole bunch!" Kyouten said. "I guess I'll be owing you one then."
"No need, it's from that time we were at the roofs."
They said their goodnights and headed to bed.
The next day early in the morning, Kyou was disturbed. His mother woke him up, and the next thing he knows is running outside along with other families. Bakery owners, blacksmith owners, and even jewel crafter owners were running. Families scattered. Scorches of fire and blazing waves engulfed the sky.
"Mother, father, what is happening? Why are we running from home?" There was no answer. He soon realized what was going on. In the distance aside from screams and footsteps, he heard a horn. He heard a war horn that signals enemy forces approaching the village. He seen Rei's family run, but he didn't see Chieru's, Aisha's or Takas's. He realized Takas would have been reported to defend the village at all costs. He did not see Aisha or her family anywhere. What if something happened?
Something more terrible happened. The whole village was surrounded with enemy intruders. Families stopped because they could not flee. In the horror, houses were burned, corpses were made, and families were separated. In panic his family held hands and tried to flee without being noticed. Kyou saw one of the enemy intruders. It was a barbarian. Leather armor filled its body. He was on foot raiding with axes. His body was tattooed as markings. He was bulky and enraged.
Kyou hid quietly and was frightened. The sight of burning houses, the sound of screaming families and howls of barbarians, the smell of blood and smoke. This all made him pressured with many questions. Suddenly, there was a gasp. His family was spotted and they were fleeing for their lives. They managed to avoid other barbarians except this one. They soon made it to the forest, but were still being trailed. His family broke into silence as the quickly hid in the darkness of trees and bushes as the barbarian searched around. Little did they know, he could sniff them out.
The barbarian laughed like a grunt orc. "I smell you humans. You die now!" He chopped the tree that they were hiding in half. Kyou and his parents were shocked. Seeing no other way, his parents did a noble thing for their child. They attacked the barbarian for time.
"Kyouten! Run! Hurry!" His father commanded.
"B-but what about you?!" Kyou cried.
"Just go!" With that, Kyou ran. The barbarian tried to get the parents off of him and go for Kyou, but Kyou's father disarmed the barbarian of his axes and used them against him. The barbarian was in pain and was dieing, but enraged.
Kyou had fallen asleep waiting for his parents under a rock that had the inside carved in for shelter. Morning had come and the sounds of war ceased. He believed that it was over, and he left his little shelter to search for his parents.
"Mother! Father!" Kyou kept crying out. He was walking the way back to the village. He took the same path he took while running. On his way to the village, he saw a corpse of a fallen barbarian. It was the same one from earlier. His parents succeeded in killing him. Sadly, next to the corpse a few feet away, laid two more. His parents bled to death after the fight against the barbarian. Kyou was shocked when he seen them. He rushed toward their corpses and tried to wake them up by shaking them. There was no response. He was crying, with no words to say.
A few minutes of grief, and he looked up. On the ground in front of his parents, there were words written in the dirt.
"Kyouten… our beloved son… forgive us for not being able to return to you… read the following words carefully… live on…son…live on… do not avenge us, for we have already done so… seek nearby villages… find a home…we will watch over you… forgive us…"
This made Kyou sob more. Those were the last words written by his parents to him.
"Why…why did you have to go?! Why did you have to leave me?!" Kyou yelled in tears.
His family was gone. For hours he cried. He gave them a proper burial that he learned from them when his pet died. Kyou set out to the village to see if anyone was alive.
Kyou returned, to see ashes and some fire burned down. The smoke fled higher in the sky. He began his search. There were burned corpses, bloody ones as well. There were a lot of them. He was relieved to see that Rei's family wasn't in corpses. He was also relieved to not find any corpses of Aisha's family or her. But something brought his attention; a wounded corpse. It wasn't the size of a man. A sword was still in his hand; Takas's sword. Taka has fallen in battle against the barbarians. Not just him, most of the village. He grieved over the corpse of a very great friend he had. He gave his dear friend a burial as well. To remember his friend, Kyou kept the sword, which is what Takas would want since Rei was too cool and Aisha was younger, if Takas found a better weapon or had to give it up for some reason. In another memory of his dear friend, he promised to take care of his jacket that Takas gave him.
After saying a long prayer, Kyou, with the locket in his pocket, and the necklace worn, set out for a nearby village that may shelter him in. With his parents watching over him, he had a goal. That goal was to find his other dearly friends and confirm of their status.
Kyouten engraved a message to a nearby bolder than was in front of the town. "'Home.'". As Kyouten left, he looked back thinking of all the memories he had, and how he will never experience them again…that he knew of, anyway…