Chapter 1: Wake-Up Call
The bright sun shines down upon brown, straight shining locks. A young woman turns with grace to enjoy a stray breeze. Early morning was her favorite part of the day. It gave her hope, that life was going to continue. Her name was Julia Chang. She was a beautiful young woman with the thorns to match the rose. The sunlight radiated off of her peach colored skin, giving it the appearance of a glow.
She sighed gently before climbing down off of her wooden roof. Her home was done with a Californian touch, despite the fact that she was living in Arizona. She jumped down the white vineyard-like fence that reached up the side of her home. In her hand were two letters. One addressed to her, and the other addressed to an old friend. 'It's been two years now…' She thought as she walked down the white stone tiles leading to another room.
Her fingertips ran across the tall white vineyard gates that surrounded her home. Passing the medium sized swimming pool, she smiled upon seeing the water rippling quietly. Small birds were drinking from it. She never put chlorine in her pool, she used fresh water. It was always as clean as could be, and it's blue glitter proved the point.
She placed her right hand in the back pocket of her denim blue jeans. Her left hand tightly held the two letters as she rested it on her hip. Her red t-shirt seemed to shine as she looked at the wooden door in front of her.
"I guess I'd better do this now." She said as she looked through her thin red trimmed glasses. Using her left hand, she slowly opened the door. There he was, laying face down on his bed. His head was hidden underneath a pillow. She approached his side, slowly taking her right hand out of her back pocket. The sound of her knees quietly landing against the wooden floor was the only audible sound. That is, besides the young man's snoring.
Smiling, she let her right hand travel underneath the pillow. She could feel his hair, followed by a slight movement of his head. Julia smiled as she stared into the dark brown orbs of the boy. She noted that his eyes looked like they had one giant pupil, she could barely see the outline of the dark brown eyes. A small smile formed on his face as she moved her smooth, gentle fingers throughout his brown hair.
She began to let her smile fade slightly as she spoke. "Sorry to wake you up. Some important mail came in this morning." She revealed to him the two envelopes. One had her name on it, the other had his. Hers was already torn open at the top, showing that she had already read it.
"What is it?" He asked quietly, obviously still not fully awake.
Julia focused her eyes on the half open envelope as she replied. "Something that will make you happy."
The boy pulled out the letter, a ticket soon falling out afterwards. He continued to read on. Suddenly, his eyes blinked rapidly. He was starting to fully awaken.
"Julia, an invitation to another King Of Iron Fist Tournament?! This will be the forth one."
Julia used her left hand to pat her ponytail. It was long and unbraided, a few strands of hair hanging down both sides of her face. "Maybe now we'll finally find King. He could return to the tournament. Ever since Armor…" She stopped upon seeing her friend look away.
"Things have been different." She rephrased. He nodded.
"I just keep thinking that if…Julia, I just think that if I had found them earlier, I would have been able to prevent Armor's death." Julia placed a tender hand on his cheek as she spoke.
"Even if we had found them before, there was nothing you could've done to stop him from being murdered." The young man nodded reluctantly. Julia stood up slowly, looking down to the envelope in her hand. "The tournament starts in eight days. It would be good if we left soon."
The boy sat up in the bed and nodded before removing himself from it. He headed for the bathroom as Julia reached for the black cordless phone. Carefully, she dialed the number that the invitation had given them.
"Hello. I'm calling to enroll in the King Of Iron Tournament. My name is Julia Chang…that's it? Ok. Oh, wait! I also wanted to enroll my best friend, he's entering with me…yeah…his name is Peter Antuma."