Chapter 1: Makoto's Lament
An elegant young woman, her luxuriant ebony tresses done up in an extravagant hairdo and her slender figure tucked into an emerald-hued outfit that identified her as the Elemental Priestess of Wind, soared effortlessly up to the immense artificial moon floating over Floristica City known as the Eye of God.
She made a flawless landing at the edge of an oblong platform protruding from its surface.
Three weeks had elapsed since the day she last went up there – the fateful day when the El-Hazardian people triumphed over the Bugrom, the Phantom Tribe and the evil Demon Gods Ab-Zahal and Jinnistacia.
The benevolent Demon God Ifurita had, on that same occasion, saved El-Hazard from being destroyed by the Eye following its sabotage by the conniving Prince Galus, and was tragically banished across space and time in doing so.
And it was also then that the Wind Priestess' friend began wasting away, his heart breaking because he and his beloved Ifurita were separated indefinitely.
The friend in question was sitting under one of the many colossal antennae that covered the Eye's exterior - a lanky youth with tousled brown hair, clad in an immaculate blue high school uniform.
He did not notice the Wind Priestess' arrival, for he was concentrating on reading a roll of parchment that he had borrowed from the Royal Archives.
Lying beside him was an ornately sculpted, two-metre length of coldly gleaming metal – Ifurita's Power Key Staff. A frustrated expression contorted his boyish good looks and he furled the text back into its protective tube.
"So close, and yet so far," he muttered as he returned the document to his jacket pocket. "Will the answers I seek remain elusive?" He then became aware of the green-clad, feminine figure standing nearby, and rose to greet her. "Oh, Afura, it's you. Here to take me back to the palace?"
"No, Makoto," she replied. "Princess Rune did not send me; I came of my own accord to see how you were keeping. Everybody is worried sick. You neither sleep nor eat and you've withdrawn from all who care for you."
Makoto Mizuhara turned away and, leaning against Ifurita's staff for support, stared off into the blaze of sunset red that was the western sky - trying to put his profound feelings into simple words had always been an uphill task.
Taking a deep breath, he gave it his best shot.
"Afura," he said in a voice brimming with emotion, "have you ever cherished someone to the point where it's virtually impossible for you to get them off your mind? I certainly do. Sleep may not come to me anymore, but I still dream – dream of Ifurita, of her faithfully waiting, half-awake in the darkness of the subterranean chamber beneath Shinonome High, for the moment she meets me and sends me to El-Hazard."
He momentarily shut his eyes and purged the mental anguish from his psyche before continuing: "She was already so weak when we first crossed paths, and there's no telling how much time she's got left after the effort it must've taken to transport me here. That's why I toil - why I scour morning, noon and night for a way to rescue her. Her life hangs in the balance."
The Wind Priestess walked over to Makoto and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "The strength of your love for Ifurita surpasses that of any other love I have seen," she declared. "You WILL be reunited with her – if you don't kill yourself in attempting to achieve your goal, that is. And what good would that do?" She fixed him with a concerned gaze. "Come on... when was the last time you had a bite?"
"I... I can't recall," replied Makoto quietly, the fight and fire gone from him.
"Well, as a friend, I won't let you labour any further without some nourishment and rest," smiled Afura Mann.
