Howls of Time

Chapter 1

Creation of ice

What happens when time stops and everything disappears? Nothing left of the world you once knew except a shadow of the old world that follows the few survivors. They wonder threw nothing the world they knew has become a shadow full of sorrow and suffering, but amongst the survivor's there is hope for the fallen world. When the child of ice is consumed by lighting and the embers shall flare again and bless the child of shadows shall this fallen world be saved? Now let our story begin with the child of ice.

I walked threw the rubble toward a mountain spring. I'm growing into a hunter; I can kill most of the beasts in this area so I guess that's why I stay here. I looked down at the clear water, noting at how different I looked from when I was younger. Then the reflection changed. In the water was my little sister, wearing her favorite dress. She was one of the people I missed so much and her angelic voice spoke. She said "I'm glad you're well Keita were all fine too!" I reached in the water to hug her, for it had been long since I had heard her sweet voice, but as soon as I touched the cool water she disappeared as the ripples formed. I knew it was an illusion so I fell back into the despair of having your family dead and while you still live.

I was wondering in the woods to calm my mind and soul from the sudden shock. As I walked in a daze towards a giant beast. It would have been fine if I had thought to bring my blades, but I hadn't. Immediately he recognized me and stood still waiting for the chance to snatch his prey. Then as he saw me walk towards him, eyes closed, and none of my senses working properly. As soon as he realized this he pounced, claws stretched out, teeth a shown he ran towards me wanting my flesh. I barely realized the danger I was in until it was almost too late to move. I pulled out one of my spare blades and put as much force as I could on the blades to stop the in coming attack. My efforts were successful; the blade tore threw the shoulder of the beast and it screamed in agony but the hunter became more alert with the skills of its prey. He gained speed and strength because of his wound. I tried and tried again to wound the beast further, but it was futile.

So the light that my eyes had once been so full of faded to darkness. When light was regained to my world, I heard the screams and groans of the dying. When I tried to stand up to help them, my legs would not allow me to get off all fours and it was night; yet I could clearly see all the bodies as if it were dawn. So I wandered in the forest on four legs until I came to a stream and looked at myself in the water.

I had yellow eyes and white fur, except for a black paw and a dark grey stripe that started at my head. My claws were sharper than normal wolf claws and I had dragon like wings with a sharp claw at the tip of each. As I wandered threw the dead bodies, a spirit of a young girl with tattered clothing kneeled next to me. She smiled at me and ran towards the ice plain that now covered this world. I followed the young spirit on the plain of ice, when suddenly the ice turned into grass and we came to a meadow.

At the center of the meadow was a giant tree that was withering away. The little spirit patted the tree and spoke "This is the meadow of dreams, and we call this tree the tree of hope; for it has stood unharmed through all kinds of tragedies and has guided many lost souls to the next world Many others used to live here and call this tree their home, but they have all left, so this tree can die in peace." For a while she stared at the tree that had given hope to lost souls for many years and the little soul shed a few tears for the tree and continued. "When all hope in this world is lost, a new future shall sprout from all the chaos of the old world and give to the people of the lost world a new future, fate and destiny." She smiled at me and I gave her a confused look.

Then she spoke of a legend I had often heard "Only when ice is consumed by lightening shall a guardian arise; and from the falling ambers that turn into the darkness of the death be blessed by fire and shall the fallen world be saved." Then she jumped into the tree and disappeared, smiling, and when the little soul left, the meadow that had been so beautiful a second ago disappeared whisked away with the wind. So the ground beneath me turned into air and in the process of trying to reach the ice. I lost my footing and fell into the abyss below me. When conciseness was coming back to me, I heard many voices some whispering others talking but I never understood what they said.

When I could see again, I was lying on a cloud. It was soft and farms lay around the whole thing. No one was out but I could feel a pair of eyes on me, waiting for me to move. I stood up finding out I was a human again. I stood their debating what to do now. I hadn't really noticed the people coming towards me with strange stick like things in their hands. Once they were only a couple yards away the men stopped pointed their weapons at me.

Chapter 2: The Desperate Healer

"A new comer huh?" said one of the men in black. I stared at them trying to see their faces but I never could. "Let's get her cleaned up and take her to the king." One of the men finally said. They ran towards me, grabbing me by the arms and dragged me towards a white building covered with vines. They stopped at a door made of iron or steel, I couldn't tell. The men holding me knocked on it a few times and spoke "Kelarias Sutrios." Then they dragged me through the door and laid me down on a table. A person who looked like a healer came in and stared at me for a moment then grabbed a knife. Then he grabbed a drill and set it just above my head and then said "Now lets what she knows, shall we."

A throbbing pain rushed through my body; I tried with all my might to suppress a scream but failed. The pain lasted only a second longer, than it disappeared. "You said all patients were knocked out before they were operated on!" the healer yelled. "We take them as they come. That's the king's orders." One of man replied in a calm voice. I opened my eyes to look at the men surrounding me but I still couldn't make out their faces, despite the light filled room. The healer paced for a short while, probably wondering what procedure to do me now. Then one of the men in black said, "I know you are against the kings practices but if you do not want to be a slave or something worse I suggest you do the works on her!"

There was a dark silence for long moment then the healer stepped toward the stable where I lay. The healer said "Please! She has no idea what's going on, so it may be easy to talk to her and see what she knows. Let me take care of he for awhile, please!" I finally broke through the darkness and saw their features clearly now. The healer had pale skin with light blonde hair that was spiked on his head. He was wearing a brown robe underneath it with a fancy shirt that made him look noble. One of the men in black said, "No; we shall not decide what to do with her, the king will."

The healer had pure fear written on his face, then as if directed by an invisible force, he turned to a counter covered with all kinds of tools and grabbed a long stick along with a light. I noticed later that the stick had a drill and spike at the end of it that looked almost invisible. Then he walked to the table where I lay and pressed the button on his strange instrument, and then my world began to fade back into the darkness until I could barely make out a word of what they said. The only thing I heard was the healer whisper "I'm sorry."

When I was conscious again, I saw my surroundings and they astonished me. It seemed like I was in a fancy hotel or a giant castle of some sort. I lay on a silk bed, I hopped up and took a peek out the small window. The land around me was covered in fields and what looked like farmhouses but they were painted a dark grey color. I stared at the landscape for a while, waiting for something to move. But nothing did. It wasn't the landscape that moved next it was I; someone was coming into my room. A lady that looked like a maid came in and set a basket of clothes on my bedside table and said "Oh I see your awake! Please, put on these clothes and I shall tell you where you are."

Chapter 3:Explianations

"Where am I, then?" I asked, confused as to where this very strange place was. She laughed at me and I flinched not knowing what to say; I just stared at this strange maid waiting for an answer. "You really don't know anything, do you?" her laughter came to an abrupt halt when she saw my expression. "No, the last thing I remember was falling of cliff where a meadow used to be." I said, not knowing what else to say. "Ah so you were one of the souls that wandered upon that tree when it died, that explains it." The woman disappeared for a moment and returned with a tray full of strange food.

Then she examined me, my heartbeat was checked and so was my pulse, then after her makeshift checkup, the maid flashed a satisfied smile at me and said "It looks like what the Walkers told me was true after all, you are alive!" I looked around the room once more and than to the maid who seemed rather pleased with her conclusion. "My name is Lilly; I serve the king, and you are?" She looked at me as if determined to put every little tiny detail about my form into her memory forever. "Hello Lilly, I'm Keita, and where am I exactly?" Now it was Lilly's turn to look confused. "Ah Yes… You're alive, so you don't naturally know. You are the only living thing in the world of the dead."

I went to the window and looked out at the grey farms that seemed to be sleeping on a cloud. "So this is the world of dead, huh? I imagined it a bit more… private and happier." I said as if disappointed by what this girl told me; if this is Heaven, than where was my family? "Oh its more pleasant in the richer districts where people buy beautiful things that you probably can't even imagine!" Lilly said as her eyes sparkled with excitement like a little child with a new toy. "Oh, you should eat. I'm terribly sorry for stalling your dinner, you must be starving after sleeping for five days!" Lilly said as if someone invisible had brought back to reality.

Lilly pointed out to me where my closet and my sink were, plus what everything else in the room was, obvious or not. Then Lilly curtsied and left the room, the gesture meant to state that she was not my friend. Lilly was a maid and I was a lady she served nothing more or less. I stared at the strange food for a long time; it looked like all the fruit you find on the ground, but were twisted or stretched and grew spikes. I grabbed what looked like a makeshift apple that had been turned into torture weapon. I rolled it around on my palm for a few seconds to make sure the spikes were not real. Than just as I was about to take a bite a voice rang throughout the room and said "Don't eat that it'll make you a slave before you have a chance to meet your master."

Chapter 4:The Lightening and the Flame

I looked around the silent room that was once filled with color but was now so dreary. A young man sat on one of the presently broken pillars. His short brown hair shimmered in the little light that was shed across the room. He grinned at me with his emerald, cat-like eyes, staring with a playful gleam. "So you're the one that everyone been talkin about." He said in a mischievous tone with a chuckle. His feet touched the ground, if only for a moment, before he disappeared from his place and reappeared at the seat across from where I was, as looked down I noticed my "torture apple" was missing.

"So how were you expecting the afterlife, huh?" he said, tossing the apple up in the air. I glared at him. "My names Takaharu, but you can call be Taka." He said cheerfully, casting his gaze towards me. I nodded to him, quietly telling him my name. As he played with the "torture apple" I examined his clothing. He wore a long sleeveless black shirt that separated at his waist and went to his knees; it had a green dragon stretched across it. His last noticeable features were his white pants, black gloves and two strange orange armbands on his left arm.

Out of nowhere, came a knock on the door. We both looked up as a girl walked in, around my age. She stood in the shadows; it looked as she had a dark veil that draped around her body. The only visible part of her was brown eyes and specs white that lightly illuminated the darkness. Taka stood, sighing. He set the apple on the table and grinned to her. "Well well well, if it isn't Fiera." He murmured. "Who is she? She isn't part of the resistance." Fiera growled. "Oh! This is Keita. She's… Not from around here." His voice trailed.

"I can tell that just by looking at her, you dork," Fiera said, stepping out of shadows. Her dark brown eyes turned into rich honey color and her wood colored hair burned into a blazing inferno of light tinted fire. Fiera wore a gold shirt that had a bright red phoenix across it and black and white checkered pants. A few moments later, and the topic flew out the window; it was replaced when Taka shouted "At least when I walk around in towns when It's windy the people don't think my hairs on fire!" Fiera looked like a bomb that was about to explode in a matter of seconds. "You did not just go their, that was one time!!!" and after that they spoke in loud high pitched voices that could not be deciphered.

Chapter 5: The Resistance

As they ignored me, I looked at Fiera more closely. A green dragon similar to Taka's, but smaller, wrapped around her right arm and she also had the two orange armbands on her left arm. After my thorough examination I spoke. "There is one pending question I want to ask you guys." They continued bickering not even pretending to notice that I just spoke. I held in my breath and prepared to scream and after a few moments, I was ready. "HEY, GUYS LISTEN TO ME I HAVE A QUESTION!!!!!"

I swear I heard crickets as they stared at me in shock. I took their silence as my right to talk. "Ok. Now my first question: what dimension did you people come from?" They stared at me for a couple minutes before Taka spoke "um I could ask you same question Kate." I glared with the want for blood "For one, don't call Kate it's KEITA and second of all, I came from … somewhere?" Taka looked like he was about to burst with laughter "We have a feisty one here!" he laughed. Fiera hit him on the head and as he grabbed his throbbing head he flipped around to face her. "What was that for?!" he yelled. Fiera gave him a look and growled "Let's just stop playing useless games and take her to dad!"

The two led me outside the castle towards a dark uninviting forest. Taka chatted happily with me while Fiera kept to herself ahead of us. "So your name's Keita eh? Not a very common name, but I like it." Taka said as he put his around my shoulder, suddenly Fiera whirled around and glared at Taka. In her hand was growing ball of fire. Taka immediately jumped away from me and threw his arms in the air "Ok ok! I won't do anything till after we talk to dad!" That was obviously not the right thing to say because the fireball grew 10x. Taka grunted and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking ahead of us. Fiera stood up straight and the fire vanished.

I stood their for a moment shocked then I said, " How did you do that?" referring to the fire. "Oh that? I was born with the ability to create and control fire." Before I could ask another question, Taka called to us. "We're home!" Fiera smiled and stepped toward the tattered building that Taka stood in front of, but she stopped half way and turned to me. "Welcome to the Resistance"

Chapter 6:The Mizuki Family

We stepped into the tattered building to reveal a hidden village. As we approached the less populated part of town, a medium sized dog with wiry fur darted to us. He barked and tackled Taka to ground. I thought I heard an excited high-pitched voice, then the dog stepped off Taka and looked at me with his big blue sparkling eyes. I heard the voice again "Hello who are you?" I stared at the dog for five minutes before my brain become functional. "Did you just talk?" I muttered.

Fiera came up to me and stared at me with curious eyes. "You can here Bo too…?" she said softly, sharing my astonishment. Taka stormed up to us and yelled at Fiera "You could talk to Bo all along and you didn't tell him to stop jumping on me all these years?!" Fiera laughed at him saying, "I hope you know I was the one who told him to jump on you!" They started bickering again and I turned to Bo and said, "Do they always do this?" Bo wagged his tail and says yup. A tall blonde man in a long robe with a blue dragon on it, much like what the bickerers wore, approached with a skeptic look in his eye.

"Taka, Fiera please stop bickering. Your father is home and he isn't in the best mood." The bickering siblings stopped with a look of pure terror written on their faces. Then both yelled in unison "Oh crap!" Then a man with a similar black robe with a mighty red dragon winding around his body exited the home.

He had black spiked hair as well as a mighty red blade. "What are you two--who's that?" he said, pointing towards me. Taka answered quickly "Don't worry dad, she's good." Fiera laughed "Is it like with Andrea last week?" she said tauntingly. The two siblings gave each other a death stare until the man with sword growled at them. "Fiera, come with and explain the situation." And then the pair walked into the house.

"Hello miss my name is Celes" he said kissing the palm of my hand. Taka muttered something under his something like "and they say I'm a flirt." Celes ignored Taka and said, "What is your name, miss?" I looked shocked than recovered and said "Um I'm Keita. Nice to meet you Celes?"

A short while later Fiera and the man came back. Fiera bowed to him and he introduced himself. "My name is Kurogane. I am the leader of the Resistance, and I am the master of lightening. I see you have met my children." He said, nodding towards Taka and Fiera. "Nice to meet you. I'm Keita." I said, lightly bowing. I still did not know of this 'Resistance' and I was determined to find out. I stood and looked up at Kurogane. "What is the Resistance?" I asked softly.

Kurogane sighed "So it was true you have no knowledge or instinct of this world you are alive." Taka sighed and said "Yeah we knew that dad." Kurogane glared at his son before grabbing Celes staff and hitting his son lightly with it to tell to shut up before continuing. "Anyways about 200 years ago the current monarchy rose to power and changed this world in to a place where common souls are slaves, We the Resistance are trying to free the people."

After that Kurogane ordered a room for me where I sit for hours pondering this world. Then when thought to the little soul that had told the legend I realized something. The embers shall flare again and bless the child of shadows. That verse it must have meant Fiera but I could her Bo to?

Does I am child of ice that is consumed by lighting?