Kingdom Cross Prologue One

The Shining City

The sun rose slowly, casting a glimmering sheen over the rooftops of Etansel. Moisture danced in the air, greeting the city with its delicate dawn kiss. Not even a breeze disturbed the silent streets, and one could almost believe that the city was holding its breath...

"Ah, my love!!! How shall I compare thee to an evening star......"

Of course that lasted all of three seconds before a loud song (for lack of a more appropriate word) rang out from one of the residential areas of the city. Most of the inhabitants of the city, and most likely those in the neighboring areas as well, groaned and shoved pillows over their faces in hopes of muffling the off-key wailing that had now become a daily occurrence.

The unlucky recipient of the song rolled out of her bed and landed on the floor with a rather large thump. Muttering angrily under her breath, Esmeralda considered chucking her shoe out the window. Of course, with her bad aim it would probably miss, and she would be short one shoe. It probably wasn't worth the effort, but she would be grateful for any extra sleep it allowed her.

A loud thunk and a yelp sounded from outside. Smiling to herself, she exited out onto the balcony to see who had beaten her to the punch.

Xynoe looked up at her with a look of mixed amusement and exhaustion on his face. Gilbert lay unconscious at his feet, with a rather large rock in close proximity to his head. Xynoe shook his head before bending down and picking up a half squished rose that was on the ground next to the centaur. He tossed it up to Esmeralda, who managed to catch it before it smacked her in the face.

"Hey!" She squealed, shaking the offending projectile. "Do you honestly think I want this thing?"

"Ah, how sweet love is..." Xynoe droned sarcastically, striking an exaggerated pose. "If you wanted to be serenaded by your lover, you could at least ask him to come later in the morning." He ducked out of the way, laughing, as the rose came flying back at him with surprisingly good aim. Esmeralda's face was darkened in a scowl.

"Call him my lover again and I'll find something heavier to throw at you. Preferably with pointy edges."

"But my lady," he called out, dark eyes shimmering with unsuppressed mirth, "You are such a vision of beauty this morning, how could anybody not want to be your lover?"

Esmeralda stared at him for a moment, confused, before a cool breeze ruffled her clothing, reminding her that she was still in her pajamas. She realized that her green hair was probably sticking straight up, not to mention the fact that there were probably dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. Gilbert had a little too much energy in the dawn hours for his own good, and seemed to enjoy waking everybody else up at ungodly hours. She ran a hand through her unruly hair, before getting a better look at the onyx jumi. What she saw brought a slight smirk to her lips.

"This coming from the one who doesn't have the decency to put a shirt on before rushing outside to clobber unsuspecting minstrels?" Xynoe looked down at his chest, where his onyx core was glittering faintly in the early morning rays. Other than that, he looked the same as he always did, never bothering to brush his already spiky and wild black hair. The bags under his eyes were a new addition, but everyone within a ten-mile range of Esmeralda's dwelling probably had them. He gave her something resembling a sheepish smile, but knowing his sense of humor, he probably didn't mean it.

Gilbert began to groan, awakening from his impromptu nap. Xynoe jumped and prepared to whack him with the rock again, when a shoe came flying out of nowhere, knocking the centaur out cold and sending his green hat flying. Xynoe looked up at Esmeralda, who shrugged.

"You should have hit him harder." Elazul stated, walking up the street to join Xynoe. The lapis jumi had at least thrown a light shirt on, but he was still lacking his usual cape and headdress. He knelt down beside the centaur, checking him before retrieving his shoe.

"Shame. He's still breathing."

A light giggle echoed through the air as Pearl ran up behind her knight. Somehow, she was the only one who had managed to get fully dressed and look somewhat decent.

She tilted her head to one side, staring curiously at Gilbert.

"You didn't really mean that, did you Elazul?" She asked, smiling gently at him.

Elazul shrugged and began tossing his shoe from hand to hand. He had forgotten the other one back in his quarters when he had gone rushing out, waking Pearl from her sleep next door. Of all the jumi, she seemed to be the only one who could actually sleep through Gilbert's morning activities.

"Hmmph...I don't know. At this rate, the city is probably going to form a lynch mob for this idiot anyway."

"If you bring the pitchforks, I'll bring the torches," Xynoe said, laughing. Esmeralda rushed out of the front door of her home, fully dressed, to join her friends. She waved to Pearl before purposely trodding on Gilbert's ridiculous green hat as she made her way over. Everyone jumped as he began snoring, apparently catching up on the sleep he had deprived everyone else of.

"So," Esmeralda began, giving the centaur a weird look, "what should we do with the cantering Casanova here?"

Xynoe opened his mouth, probably to give some strange but ultimately humorous answer, when he was interrupted by shouting coming from down the street. Mythos came dashing in, tripped over the unconscious Gilbert, and went flying through the air, landing with a loud thump on the cobblestones of the street. Esmeralda and Elazul hurried over to him and helped him to his feet. Xynoe stared at him, shocked.

"Man," he said, "The only thing I've seen get better airtime than that is a Siren, and he even gave those competition."

Esmeralda shook her head in mock disgust and began to check over the amethyst jumi. He seemed physically fine, despite his short flight, but he was panting raggedly, as if he had been running a great distance at top speed. He shook off his too supporters before starting a string of incoherent babble.

"I...she...it...horrible...never 't believe..." His frame trembled as he tried to put together a lucid thought. Elazul put his hands on Mythos' shoulders to steady him. The amethyst jumi looked up at him, eyes wide with fear and breath coming in short gasps.

"Calm down." Elazul kept his hands on Mythos' shoulders, fearing that the jumi would collapse if he removed them. "Take deep breaths and tell us exactly what happened."

Mythos tried to comply with Elazul's suggestion, taking a few shaky breaths. However, upon doing that, he burst into sobs. Xynoe and Pearl joined Esmeralda and Elazul in trying to calm down the amethyst jumi.

"Mythos," Pearl ventured, worry clear in her soft voice, "Can you tell us what's the matter?"

Mythos paused and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. He slowed his breathing down a bit, hiccupping a few times. The fear, however, did not leave his eyes.

"It's absolutely horrible!" He cried, trying to keep his voice steady.

Xynoe began to get impatient with the whole situation. He pushed Elazul out of the way roughly and grabbed Mythos by the collar, pulling him closer.

"I'm sick of you dancing around the subject," he hissed into the smaller jumi's face. "Either you stop crying and tell us what happened, or I'll give you something to really cry about!"

"Xynoe!" Esmeralda yelled, angry at the onyx jumi for his harsh treatment. He turned his head to reply to her, when Mythos spoke.

"It's Crimea! She's been attacked!"

"Attacked? But how?" Elazul asked, uncertainty in his voice.

"I don't know, but it's awful!" Mythos sobbed. He pushed himself away from Xynoe and began to run off in the direction he came from. He motioned for them to follow over his shoulder. The four nodded at each other, before taking off after him.

A few seconds later, Gilbert sat up, swaying groggily. He shook his head a few times before looking around.

"Where did everybody go?"

They knew they had arrived when they saw the large crowd gathered on one of the lower levels of the city. Mythos disappeared into the throng of bodies. Elazul and Xynoe didn't hesitate a moment before following them. Esmeralda and Pearl, knowing full well that they weren't strong enough to push through, waited for them to bring back news of what had occurred.

The three guys, after much elbowing and shoving, finally made their way to the middle of the crowd. The sight that greeted their eyes was far from pleasant.

Crimea was lying on the ground. Rubens was kneeling down next to her, while Berada, her guardian, paced anxiously in the open space around them. Mythos, unable to bear the sight any longer, escaped back into the crowd of jumi. Rubens looked up as Elazul and Xynoe approached, then shook his head sadly. The ruby jumi stood up and began to converse with Xynoe, as Elazul bent down to more closely examine the fallen jumi knight.

Her eyes were closed, and her face drawn and pale. Crimson hair cascaded in waves around her face, giving the illusion that she was laying in a cloud of blood. Elazul's eyes moved downwards, and he realized in shock that her core was missing. He stood up, and turned to the others.

"Her core was taken?" The other two stopped their conversation to look at him. Xynoe crouched down to take a closer look, then frowned perplexedly.

"Something's not right," he said, turning to the others.

Rubens looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Obviously this whole situation is not right, but somehow I don't think that's what you mean."

Xynoe nodded.

"Have you ever seen a jumi core taken besides your own?" Rubens shook his head as a negative. Elazul turned to the onyx jumi.

"You're right. Something is off here, but I can't seem to figure out what..."

"It's blood."

Rubens and Elazul turned to him. Suddenly, Elazul's eyes widened in understanding.

"That's right! Whenever another jumi's core was taken, their chest would bleed just before they vanished!" Elazul turned back to the fallen Crimea. "But she's not only still here, but there isn't even a drop of blood!"

The three of them leaned over her. Elazul stared at the cavity that had once held her core, seeing only darkness. Suddenly, he thought he saw a shadow flickering across the empty space. All of his senses began to scream danger.

"Look out!" He yelled. "Something's wrong!"

The other two jumi whipped around to stare at him. However, their attention immediately snapped back to Crimea, whose eyes opened wide. Rubens was about to speak with her, when he noticed the color of her eyes in horror.

They had turned a glowing golden color, devoid of pupil and of life itself. Elazul reached for his sword instinctively, before realizing that he had left it back in his room. Swearing under his breath, he and the others backed away.

Dark and sinister clouds came out of nowhere and covered the sun, rumbling ominously. The jumi in the crowd began to shift uneasily, not sure of what was happening. Crimea sat up and staggered to her feet, gazing out into space. Rubens, Elazul and Xynoe backed further away nerves rising. She turned to face them, then grinned eerily, the expression conflicting with her emotionless eyes. She threw her arms wide, and blobs of darkness rose from the ground, surrounding her. They formed into strange creatures with glowing golden eyes.

"Damn it!" Xynoe cursed. "What are these things?" He barely had time to finish his statement before one of the things launched itself at him. Xynoe dodged, the black creature's claws missing him by a hair's breadth.

Everything seemed to happen at once. The crowd panicked and began to flee, and screams filled the air. The shadowlike creatures began to pursue anything that moved. Elazul ran towards them dodging attacks as they were launched at him.

"PEARL!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?" He shouted, searching frantically for a flash of white and gold. Suddenly, faintly, he could hear her scream over the din over the crowd. He ran towards where he heard the scream from, weaving through the fights breaking out all over the city. He stopped and called out again, hoping desperately for a response.

"PEARL!"

He was greeted only with the sound of thunder, as the clouds above broke out into rain. Elazul bit his lip, holding back a sob of helplessness. He couldn't fail his guardian again, couldn't let her fall to these horrible things...

Elazul didn't see the orb of darkness forming behind him until it was too late. As he turned around, the entire world exploded into darkness.

And somewhere far away, someone saw a star go out.

Well, here's Part one of my three part prolouge. (This time with lines added). I'm going to have three heroes in this fic, and the first of the three is introduced here! Can you guess who?

Oh, and for those of you who aren't crazy about Original Characters, don't worry. Most of the Originals appearing in this story will not play a major role.

I hope to make a webpage with a feature similar to Jiminy's Journal, with the different worlds that the characters visit, and the different people they meet. Think you guys would like that? I'll have lots of pictures and stuff!

Hey, I'll give you a hint as to what game the next main character comes from. The hint is:

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Kudos to anybody who figures it out! Please read and review!