Three years ago...

"Len, please wake up! Get up, Len! They are coming," Miku desperately begged the injured and semi-unconscious boy. She appeared to be shedding tears whilst being nearly drenched and covered in filth and mud. She hurriedly placed his left arm around her neck and lifted him rushing further into the dark, deeper and lusher section of the woods. She hid him in the safety of thick shrubs and wild bushes. When she saw his right arm bleeding, she ripped the dry insides of her Fluffy Loose Pastel module's shirt and used it as bandage to constrict the flow that continuously dripped.

"I SAW THEM RUN THIS WAY! GET THEM!" she frightfully gasped as she heard the couple of armed and ruthless men and woman savagely use their weapons by piercing the plants and shrubs a short distance away from where they are hidden.

Those people are kidnappers. They initially planned to kidnap her in return for a large sum of ransom money in thinking that her well-known parents are wealthy enough to make the bargain. They also found themselves quite lucky that she came along with the son of the owners of the biggest arable land in the province.

The vicious brutes grabbed them when they are on their way home from school and forced them inside their get-away car. As it drives off, Len managed to struggle free and pulled Miku and himself out of the speeding car as he smashed a window and kicked the door open. They jumped out of the speeding vehicle only to find themselves rapidly plummeting down to what seems to be a deep ravine that the vehicle happens to be passing by at that very moment. They fell into the deep and dark woody terrain.

It was raining heavily that day, the rains pour as if a storm would soon come. Out of sheer luck, the youngsters manage to escape the ordeal with their lives. But, it is only a matter of time if they can still tell if they could even escape danger.

"M...iku..." she heard him utter in pain.

"Shh... Len, please be quiet or they'll hear us," she quietly whispered in his ear. In spite of the excruciating pain, Len obligingly urged himself to become completely conscious. He also found himself unable to properly stand or walk as he noticed that he also injured one of his legs with a severe sprain.

The heavy rainfall covered the noise that their footsteps created as they hurriedly moved deeper and deeper into the woods until they came to a wide lusher area in attempts to stay safe. They hid and lowered themselves in between a larger cluster of thicker shrubs and wild plants as they hear the fearsome racket created by the horrendous villains who are unwaveringly hunting them.

The blond slowly glances at his female companion and surprisingly saw a very determined look despite all the elements in the surroundings that bred fear.

"I'm not sure how...," she whispered in a very courageous and serious tone,

"but I'll protect you, Len."

His eyes shot wide open as he realizes what she is about to do. As she was about to rise from the hiding spot, he quickly grabbed her back down with a restricting hug pressing all his weight against her. He felt weak as his entire system is screaming in pain obviously unable to make him walk any further as the girl initially noticed.

His tears started falling endlessly as he begged her,

"Don't do it or they'll kill you"

but the determined, courageous girl dexterously slipped out of his grasp.

Using the tree branches like gymnast bars, balance beams and ring grips like contraptions on a circus performance stage, the fearless girl lifts herself flexibly.

With great balance and dexterity, she is going up higher and higher in altitude with the use of all the trampolinist skills and trapezist trainings that she learned over the years from her parents. Previously, she grabbed a handy rock which she concealed in her pocket. She took it out of there. She grabbed and secured vines from the tree that she was on then she wrapped one on herself and tied it tightly on her waist.

When a kidnapper passed by right from below her, she boldly leapt head first swiftly gliding towards him like a fierce hawk about to kill its unsuspecting prey. The instant they were about to collide, she used the rock to knock him out unconscious. The vine secured her from crashing directly on the ground that tugged her back a short altitude upwards.

Thanks to the heavy rainfall, the man's yelp of pain before he fainted wasn't heard from the distance where his companions are searching. She pulled and yanked him to concealed his body under a thick bush in the darkness using stray vines to tie him up securely and gagging his mouth with the excess strips of cloth she ripped from her shirt. Once this is done, she sets up again to target her next prey.

Unbelievably awestruck, Len saw all the stunning and courageous acts that his friend had displayed. He was dumbfounded and entirely stunned like all the audiences of the circus where her well-known parents performed.

He felt so ashamed and useless at his helpless state that he crestfallenly lowered back into the lush darkness of the hiding spot as his tears and his emotions overwhelmed him.

'How can my friend, a mere delicate and innocent girl, who I literally grew up alongside with, can display marvelous deeds of bravery whilst I myself is cowering in pain and with fear of our oppressors?' he thought immeasurably and miserably as he heard an excessive rummaging followed by a pair of footsteps rushing towards Miku. She is in grave danger.

Dejected, he prayerfully whispered, "I want to become stronger! Much, much stronger! To fight and protect the ones I love, I MUST BECOME STRONG! I don't want to be worthless like this any longer! God, please, help me save my friend. I'm begging you. I am willing to offer you my very life if I can only live it protecting her." and he unintentionally leant to what seems to be a steady stone in the midst of the darkness and lushly concealing shrubs. He is punched his fists again and again in fury on the boulder in contempt of his misery whilst he desperately hopes for a miracle to answer his prayers.

"..."


!

In flash of light, he suddenly found himself floating in a spectral dimension. Lights in forms of various sizes of orbs that shone like twinkling stars playfully danced upwards all in a simultaneous direction and motion. The sight is breathtakingly inexplicable for the pale blue lights swayed here and there, near and far, towards him then around him in a blink of an eye as if they are welcoming him in this surroundings that seems like a vast world of infinite seas which also seems to be altering and changing by a certain season in a matter of seconds.

Len's eyes shot wider as he couldn't justify what he is experiencing, perhaps he passed out from all the bleeding?

"No! this can't be I mustn't just faint like this! Wake up Len! Miku is in danger, she needs you!" he literally shouted to himself to which then he heard a chuckle right from behind him.

"Who's there!?"

Len turned around and came face to face with an entity that strikingly resembles himself with some minor alterations.

"...!"

"I am the spirit of the soul stone. A water-elemental entity that has been sealed for tens of thousands of years," the Entity Len orated.

"So what do you want?... No, I have no time for this. I must get out of here! Can't you see I must help my friend? She's in danger and you're keeping me here. Get me out of here!" Len bravely and furiously demanded.

"Didn't you just prayed with a whole heart offering your very life on the soul stone wishing that you wanted to be stronger?

If it has been anyone worthless, the prayer would have been for nought.

But you possess the heart and soul that holds the ability to seek aid from the entities that binds the consistencies of the worlds, that is why you were summoned here in a dimension that holds time.

Didn't you earnestly and immensely wanted to become stronger for the sole purpose of defending her?" disputed, interrogated and orated the Entity Len as he pointed to a space amongst the bright orbs that soon formed and became a window that shows of the events of the real world.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...


As the rain ceaselessly falls in the darkness of the lush ravine...

A girl bravely descends from the highest point of the treetops aiming her next target. She fiercely shrills like a warrior who called out in war with a battle cry as she delivered him an attack in the eye using a pointed branch that she plucked from the tree earlier. That was her weapon that she held with her left hand and with another opportunity she smashed him with the rock that she held with her right hand. With a shrill, the man cries in agonizing pain for the lost of an eye and his comrade rushed to his aid. The vine that grips her by the waist slings her up and down as the battle progresses using its agile movement to dodge blows from the man.

As the battle proceeds she unfortunately aimed wrongly resulting to missing her target which is his head at which she lost the grip on the rock which crashed onto his shoulder. With a knife, he manage to slice the vine making the girl grounded to the land.

With the back of her rifle as she reached her destination, the woman kidnapper tries to struck the girl who in turn made agile dodges and counters to fight her with the stick. Using it like a spear, she successfully pierces the vile woman on the eye that made her scream in pain. Whilst giving a cry of pain, the kidnapper woman used one of her legs to trip the child out of her balance giving a chance for the man who just recovered to firmly grip on the girl's neck.

"LET GO OF ME! LET GO!" Miku hysterically yells, kicking and struggling to get away as the other male kidnapper grasps her tighter by the arm and unhesitatingly gives her a blow on the stomach.

"Search for the other!" he ordered the female kidnapper as he held tighter on Miku who appears to be conscious but in intense pain.


The window of light then slowly disappears...

"NO! MIKU!" Len screamed worriedly as the window disintegrates into nothingness.

Within just a second and with a gravely serious demeanor, he then turned to face with the Entity Len with a fierce and determined look ready to make an agreement.

"If you make me stronger, what's in it for you?" he interestingly yet suspiciously inquired.

With a smirk, the Entity Len orated,

"I shall live in your soul for the rest of your life,"

he briefly replied and directly pointed out the catch.

...

"So be it!" Len closed the deal.


The sound of the wind blowing through the trees created eerie sounds in the dark, lush-filled woods. An injured child is roughly dragged mercilessly by three vile ruffians. They could use a break so they bound her on a tree with her back facing to them then using a thorny vine that they pulled out of a wild plant, they scourged her whilst she loudly screamed in agony. "Tell us where you hid the boy!" the man who seems to be the leader of the hoodlums ordered.

"I will never tell you! Not even if I die at this very spot tonight!" the frenzied and enraged girl retorted boldly. With more clashes of the whip, they rained more scourges on her until she is barely able to remain conscious. The night's sky seemed to no longer drip as the noisy rain which suppose to be abundant suddenly dissipates in a blink of an eye.

"Unhand her!" Len orated with a stentorian voice.

"Len... no, you should have stayed hidden," Miku weakly uttered giving the vines that bound her a tug with the remaining strength that she has.

"Well, well, well. At least, you saved us the trouble of almost killing your friend. We wouldn't want that. Not until your parents give us all their money first! Hahahahah," boisterously said the lead kidnapper.

With a wave of his hand, he signaled his two goons to fetch him."Grab him!" They scurried towards him crushing the plants in their way whilst flaunting their knives to scare the boy.

"LEN RUN! ! !" The bound girl hysterically screams at the top of her voice.

"This time, it'll be my turn to protect you," she heard Len told her.

Then, she peered at him with eyes becoming fully wide open not missing any sight or trace of the occurrence that she's about to behold.

Len's white edge module attire top became luminescent in the darkness of the woods as it slowly disappears. The bandages on his critically injured right arm slowly loosens and reveals a strange marking that replaced the wounds that were previously there. The ground he stood on seems to emit a wind pressure that pushes back tiny specks of dirt away from him which also seemed to be forming a miniature geyser.

As the two kidnappers approached him not paying attention to the eerie aura that emits from all around him, he then raised his hand forward towards their direction and swiftly dropped it to his side. Within seconds, the three goons swirled into three separate vortexes of water spouts that came out from nowhere raising them as high as the sky then dropped them to their inevitable doom.

...

Unable to grasp and justify what she just saw, Miku grew tremendously fearsome of Len. Due to her clouded thoughts, she didn't notice him already right by her side and has already untangled her from her bindings.

"Are you alright, Miku?" he said

...as Miku slowly turned her head to him

...and stared at him face to face.

As she was on a phased out state, Len touches the areas of her body that bled and are wounded with the palm of his hand that emits a faint water-like light that healed her injuries within minutes.

"..."

"Miku?" Len says her name once more.

She wasn't able to make a respond earlier.

"..."

He noticed she's in a great state of horror-strickened shock for witnessing the unbelievable or what just happened.

And with a completely, deafening, fright-filled yell, Miku dashes rapidly away from him.

"AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaahhhhhHHHH ! ! ! MONSTER ! ! !" she yells as she runs away as fast as she could.

...

She ran and ran until she's out of the woods and into the grasslands.

The moon on the sky glitters as the air gave a tender breeze.

"Miku! It's me! WAIT!" he called and ran after her.

In the middle of the grasslands, stumbling and rising again, getting roughly scratched and bleeding from the thorny plants that she passed by, she continued to run further and further away aimlessly. Fear strikes immensely on the poor, frenzied girl as she sheds tears for not knowing why the sudden surge to fright appeared in her or where it originates. All she know is all the courage she had earlier was entirely drained and replaced by fear.

"STOOOOOP!" Len calls out running after her.

With a summoned blaze wave, he leapt at great length and finally caught her in his arms.

She hysterically struggled and squirmed to break free from his embrace but to no avail.

"IT'S ME! LISTEN TO ME!" he loudly implored her.

"I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE! ! !

YOU KILLED THEM! YOU KILLED THEM WITH...YOUR MONSTROSITY! ! !

AAAAHHH! ! !

DON'T TOUCH ME! ! !

I DON'T KNOW YOU! ! !

AAAAAAHHH! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! " she frightfully and hysterically cries still trying to desperately break free but he just tightly held on the embrace until she calmed down to quiet sniffles.

When he heard that she is no longer hysterical, he slowly told her again,

"It's me, Miku. It's me. I'm Len."

!

Still couldn't believe what he's telling her and with the last of her courage,

...

she nervously clutches for her small mirror inside her short's pocket and handed it to him. Len took it in silence then peered into it.

" ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! "

What he saw in the mirror is none other but the Entity Len.