9am, Saturday 8th November, Earth
"LUCAS! WAKE UP! It's your bithday!" Came a loud shout from downstairs. Great...another year older, another crappy birthday 'party' with my family...oh, the fun." Though Lucas as the shout woke him up, adding heavy sarcasm to the last three words in his head. Today was his birthday, but he shared none of the enthusiasm his younger brother and sister showed on their birthdays. Lucas got out of bed and dressed quickly into a pair of baggy black jeans and a white long sleeved top. Lucas was an average teen slightly taller than most, average build, light brown medium length hair with green eyes, not too athletic, not too smart, just good enough to get decent grades without attracting too much attention from anyone. He walked around the room looking for his iPod and phone, trying not to notice the dull, drab, and repetetive colours and posters that covered his bedroom walls. "...At least there's no college today..." He sighed, "thank god for the small mercies.". Walking into his en-suite bathroom and brushing his teeth and patting down his hair, the sounds of his impatient siblings running around downstairs. "Hurry up Lucas! We wanna see what you've got!" They yelled in chorus, a rare event. Walking out of his room and descending the stairs apprehensively, unsure of what to expect, still half asleep from his rude awakening.
Opening the door into his front room, a disorganized shout of "Happy Birthday!" came from everyone who'd already taken residence in the room, as the vibrant colours of the birthday decorations assaulted his eyes momentarily, disorientating him. Walking into the room, his mother walked toward him, giving him a hug. "Aww, you're 17 today! My little boy is all grown up!" She said, breaking off the hug but keeping her hand on Lucas' shoulder, directing him toward the center of the room. "Before you can open your presents, we need to measure how tall you are!" His mother continued, herding him toward a wall covered in black lines, measurements from years past. "Ugh...Mum, do we have to?" Lucas said groggily. "Yes, yes you do! We've done this for years, its tradition!" Insisted his mother. "Tradition!" Lucas' siblings shouted in unison. Standing up straight, with his back against the wall, his mother used a tape measure and drew a new line, and recorded Lucas' height next to it. "Wow, you're 6' 2'! Your father would've been so proud to see you today..." She trailed off, sadness creeping into her face. "Come on Leanne, let's not dwell on Scott right now, today is Lucas' day!" Lucas' Uncle Martin said supportively, trying to stop his sister from crying. Sniffling, Leanne forced a smile. "Yeah...sorry Lucas, you shouldn't have to put up with this today...go on, open your presents."
Walking toward the pile of presents that filled the nearest corner of the room, Lucas started to work his way through the pile, handing the odd present to his brother and sister to open for him. Eventually, there was nothing left in the corner, the various gifts littering the room. "Oh, by the way Lucas, there's one present left from me and your Aunt Sue. We got this a while back, when we were travelling the World. Treasure it, it's quite special." Said Martin, handing a small box wrapped in brown paper and tied up with basic string to Lucas. "Thank you, Uncle Martin. Let's see what we've got in here then..." Lucas trailed off, undoing the string and removing the brown paper to reveal an ornate wooden box, with pictures and symbols carved into it. Opening the box, Lucas took out a black wristband with a yin-yang symbol in the middle. Putting on the wristband, Lucas felt the strangest feeling of familiarity with it, as though he'd worn it for years. "This is amazing Uncle Martin! Thanks a lot!" Lucas said appreciatively, examining the wristband and the box thoroughly. "This looks like it has a lot of history...have any idea about it?" Lucas inquired. "Not as such, no...but the man we bought it from told us a story about a great Hero from a long time ago, a century at least, who saved a planet called Dexis from an evil that ravaged it. And what you have there, apparently belonged to this Hero." Martin told the story as though it were common knowledge. "Sounds like something from a really bad fantasy story, but I'll admit these are really cool..." Lucas replied calmly, "actually, I'm going to research that story of yours, Uncle, and then we'll see if these have as much history as that shopkeeper claims.".
1am, Sunday 9th November
Eventually tearing his focus away from his laptop and glancing at the time, Lucas finally realised how much time he'd spent looking for info on the mysterious wristband he wore. "Oh my God...I've looked for HOURS, but every site that has ANYTHING on it is written like the cryptic crossword hints...there must be something written in plain english!" Lucas groaned quietly, tiredness seeping in. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a Lucas heard am eerie voice talking quietly. "That's because you're looking for the wrong thing...." The voice trailed off quietly. Bemused and very scared, Lucas got out of his seat rapidly, looking around the room. "What the hell! Where did that come from? Is someone here?" Lucas whispered, alarmed. After a few minutes of tense silence, Lucas warily sat down again, still looking over his shoulder every now and again. "I must be hearing things, I need to get some sleep soon...I'm going to go completely mad otherwise." He told himself, trying to settle his nerves. "But before I go to sleep, let's try one last search...". Typing in 'History of the planet Dexis' to the search engine, Lucas clicked onto a page entitled 'Dexis - The planet that Time forgot'. The page had no menu, and was just black text on a white background. Reading the text, Lucas found many references to the the 'Hero' Uncle Martin mentioned, and how he saved both Dexis and Earth from an unspeakable evil. Lucas also learned of the fantastical world of Dexis and it's inhabitants, the Ouathians. Unfortunately, there was no information about who the Hero was, and the only mention of the wristband was in a brief description of the Hero. Disappointed, Lucas turned the computer off and got into bed and fell asleep, dreaming of what he'd read.
Hours later, Lucas awoke to bright sunshine shining down upon him. "What the hell...? There's never any light in my room...don't tell me, mum's got my lamp and is shining it in my face to wake me up." Lucas thought, sitting up and putting one hand on what he thought was his bed to support him. What his hand found, however, was not his mattress, but the ground. Dry mud, specifically. Opening his eyes immediately and looking around, Lucas saw that he was in a field, stretching out for miles to his left and behind him, with a forest to his right, and just in front of him, he saw what looked like a farmhouse. "The hell is going on here? Where am I? How'd I get here?" Lucas thought to himself worriedly, "this is not going to be fun....ah, hell...". He made sure he wasnt dreaming by pinching himself, then noticed something weird about his wristband. "Ok...did someone steal my wristband and replace it with a black leather bracer?" he wondered aloud. "Ugh...Goddamn it." Lucas sighed, walking toward the farmhouse. As he approached the farmhouse, he saw a girl using a rock as a platform, holding knives in both her hands.
The sun picked out the blue streaks in the girls long black hair. Knives glistened in her hands, the sharp points deadly. Lucas watched, his mouth slightly open, as the with lightning speed the girl launched the eight knives at a tree which seemed to be her target. They hit the trunk in a ring shape, a perfect circle. The girl tucked a strand of loose hair back behind her ear to survey her handiwork before smiling. Lucas took a step forward and the girl reacted instantly. "Summon.". The command was perfectly articulated. A black bladed scythe materialized out of thin air and the girl crouched. "Wait, wait!". Lucas shouted up to her. She raised an eyebrow but didn t relax. "My name s Lucas.". Still nothing. "I m a bit lost you mind telling me where this is?" Suddenly the girl smiled. "Fearless aren t you.". It wasn t a question. She relaxed from her crouch and sat on the grass. Lucas watched for a few seconds as she patted the grass next to her before walking over and sitting down. The girl held out a hand. "I m Azure.". Lucas took it. Her skin was warm like her smile. "Straw?". She offered him a piece of straw. "No thanks". He replied. "Suit yourself.". Azure stuck a straw between her teeth and started to chew on it.