Four people stood together in the middle of a grass clearing. The trees towered above them on all sides as if they were prison bars. Gray clouds circled in the sky, threatening to unleash a torrent of rain.
"Drunk again, Meiko?" Kaito asked as he glared down at the woman in red. "I see you've managed to obtain an even sluttier wardrobe than before." Even though his face was twisted in disgust, he offered a hand to help her to her feet.
"I swear I wasn't wearing this back at the bar. And since when do you wear clothes like that? Did your nerd friends design that coat for you?" Meiko slapped Kaito's proffered hand and shakily stood up on her feet. Kaito glanced down at his clothes before he turned away from Meiko. He had to admit that she was right. His coat looked ridiculous.
"Are you two going to keep chattering or are you going to figure out where we are? I'd rather not get my hair wet, thank you very much!" Meiko and Kaito faced the green-haired girl at the same time.
"You!" Meiko growled. "You, of all people! What are you doing here?"
"I haven't the slightest, so go on. Go figure it out, and maybe find a shelter while you're at it. I'm not too keen on staying out here when it's apparently going to rain soon." Miku began to stroke one of her pigtails but stopped when she looked down. "What happened to my costume? That was a very expensive costume! One of a kind!"
"Are you seriously going to freak out over yourself like that? I should be pummeling you by now." Meiko balled her hand into a fist but Kaito gripped her wrist and held her back before she could make any rash moves.
"Um, excuse me? Do any of you know what's going on and why," the young, blond girl blushed, "I'm in this outfit?"
"Weren't you listening to us? We don't-" Meiko halted her speech when she turned to face the young girl. She shook her head and took a step back. "Hey, do any of you know this brat?" Kaito and Miku looked at each other and shrugged. "Apparently not," Meiko sighed. "Well, it looks like you're the odd one out. I'm Meiko. The blue guy is Kaito and that green freak is Miku."
"Hey!" Miku cried. "Watch who you're calling a freak!"
"I find it hard to believe those pigtails are real," Meiko retorted. She turned back to the young girl. "Anyway, what's your name?"
"Her name is Rin." A lady with long pink hair walked into the clearing with a tall man in a suit and glasses tailing behind her. He stared at a clipboard that he clutched in slightly trembling hands.
"And who might you be?" Meiko snarled as they all turned to the newcomers.
"I am Luka, and my companion is Kiyoteru." The woman stopped and looked over each person in turn.
"Do you mind telling us where we are?" Miku asked. "I'd like to be able to find the quickest route home as soon as possible."
"Ah, yes. Welcome to Melinum. We sincerely apologize for bringing you here so abruptly, but, you see, it was the only way."
"Only way for what?" Kaito asked.
"The only way to avoid detection. I'm sorry; I guess you deserve an explanation. Kiyoteru, do you mind?" Luka gestured for the tall man to come forward. He took a few steps before he looked up from his clipboard.
"Not at all, Luka. " He glanced down at his clipboard one more time. "Kaito, Meiko, Miku, and Rin, I assume." He didn't wait for a response. "You have all been summoned to Melinum because you all possess two unique traits: the incredible ability to sing and a missing element in your lives, the former being much more important than the latter. For us here in Melinum, I mean. You see, our world is in danger. A new ruler stole the throne from the rightful queen a few years ago. Since then, our world has been thrust into turmoil. The ruler used to maintain the chronology of the land. Without the rightful queen, time is, essentially, destroyed. All of our buildings, inventions, roads, and landscape are subject to change unpredictably. One moment you may be driving a car, the next you'll be riding atop an old steed. Do you understand the magnitude of our situation?"
"Yeah, sure," Meiko said. "Timey changey stuff. All that crazy, weird fantasy and sci-fi stuff that I'm sure our resident nerd here will get a kick out of."
"Hey!" Kaito exclaimed.
"What? You can't honestly tell me that you're not intrigued by all this. Now," Meiko ignored Kaito's glare and looked back at Kiyoteru, "where do we come in with all this? You've got all this crazy shit going on. What do you want us to do about it?"
"We need your help, of course. You have the one power that nobody else in all of Melinum possesses."
"Which is?"
"The ability to sing."
Meiko busted out laughing and fell over onto the ground. The other three gave each other confused glances, but none of them questioned the statement.
"You have to be kidding me!" Meiko cackled. "Singing? What are we going to do? Entertain this evil ruler to death! I'm sure Kaito could do it! His voice is terrible enough to kill someone within the first note!"
"That's not what you said a few years ago," Kaite mumbled.
"I don't think you understand," Luka said. "Singing is a power in Melinum. Its strength rivals that of the greatest weapons our world has ever seen. The combination of music and words holds more potency than you could possibly imagine. It is our final weapon available to us."
"Why should we help you? You dragged us out of our lives, but what do we get in return?" Miku charged. "I have a career, you know!"
"As a professional singer, yes. That's part of why we singled you out," Kiyoteru said. "There are two benefits for you if you defeat the unjust ruler. The first is what I have already mentioned before-"
"The missing elements," Rin whispered. Her blue eyes seemed distant as she seemed to stare right through Kiyoteru
"Correct. You will find the missing element in your lives. The second will probably convince you the most. If you do not do this for us, you will perish with the rest of the world. We are falling apart with each day that passes. Parts of our timeline are disappearing completely, and without those we will never be able to rebuild this world for our knowledge lies with time. Soon everything will be lost unless you do something about it."
Everyone became quiet. Kaito gripped the edges of his long sleeves and stared at the ground. Meiko glared at the other three in turn before looking back at Kiyoteru and Luka. Miku crossed her arms over her chest and huffed like she had been dealt some great insult. Rin simply sat cross-legged on the ground, her eyes closed as if she was in deep thought.
"What are we waiting for, morons? Let's go save this world. I've got nothing better to do, anyway," Meiko finally said.
"So you'll help us?" Luka asked.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. I'm sure the other three will come around to it. Now let's go."