Blood Of The Skies

The Kuro Legacy

In this future, a war takes place. A war between good and evil. A war between light and dark. A war between the armed forces of Kuro and Shiro. It will be a war remembered in the future distant from it. Told from the evil side, it is…

The Kuro Legacy
Chapter One – Arin and Zorin

"I thought the Shining Shrine would be a boring place for a field trip," said Tessa to Ebony as they walked through a large silver temple in Hawaii that was known as the Shining Shrine.

"Same here," said Ebony with a smile, "But it's actually quite fascinating."

"I know!"

Ebony was with her class on a field trip back to Earth. They were currently studying a famous war that had taken place all over the solar system around a millennium ago. Her family was actually living on Venus, but the Shining Shrine was built during a peaceful time in the war. It was erected as a symbol of harmony on Earth after a few of it's rather well known, important capital cities were destroyed by the Kuro army. It was an important part of history and the unit; therefore they had to see it.

Ebony was in the twelfth grade and was sixteen years old. She was slender with long brown hair and eyes of the same shade.

The group soon reached yet another picture in a corridor. Ebony had grown bored of looking at the paintings and wanted to see the ones in the central room, where legend told that Lady Emma of Shiro killed the young queen of Kuro, Arin.

While the tour guide was lecturing the group on the particular artwork, Ebony leaned over and nudged Tessa's arm. "Hey, wanna go check out the central room?" she whispered.

"Nah," answered Tessa simply with a small shake of her head.

Ebony shrugged and made her way out of the crowd of students that seemed surprisingly fascinated. Nobody noticed her leave.

The first thing Ebony was attracted to was one of the paintings featured around the room. It was an extremely gory interpretation of what happened between Lady Emma and Queen Arin. As much as Ebony hated the way the legend went, she couldn't help but like this artwork.

"Hmm," she smiled, "The dude that painted this has my mind."

"That dude painted the most accurate painting of them all," said an old, masculine and extremely unfamiliar voice.

Ebony swivelled around quickly to see an old man standing near the statue in the centre of the room. "Who are you?" she asked in fear.

"My name is John," he smiled as he moved closer slowly. "John Turner."

"Don't come any closer or I will have you charged for sexual harassment."

John stopped and let out a strong laugh. "I wouldn't dream of harming or doing anything like that to a girl, especially nowadays."

"Why? Do you feel too old?"

"No, I'm gay."

"Oh, I see, cool, I'm safe."

"Yes, anyway, I'm just a historian here to give the facts."

"Well you'll probably do a better job than that knob that's leading us around."

"Well, considering he knows practically nothing about what I like to call The Kuro Legacy, yes I'd agree with you when you say that."

Ebony giggled. "So my whole class is going to learn a load of crap while I learn the good stuff?" she smiled as she walked casually to the statue and sat down with her back up against it.

"Well, who said I'd teach you?" asked John, looking down at her with a friendly smile.

"Please?"

"Okay," said John as he slid his back down the statue's base and sat himself beside Ebony. "So, what do you wanna know?"

"All of it, but for starters, who painted the accurate picture?"

"Well, this you'll spin out at. It was painted almost one thousand years ago, by the one and only King Zorin of Kuro."

"My goodness, you're kidding?"

"Not at all, remember, I give you facts, not legends and myths."

"Wow, okay, you've got me interested, tell me more."

"Well, okay then. I'm about to teach you about the Kuro Shiro war from the Kuro side. Mainly from the views of King Zorin and Queen Arin."

"Hmm, interesting."

"Mother, why are you making me do this?" asked Arin as she undressed for her shower. "I mean, how is meeting a boy for an arranged marriage now going to help me?"

"Arin, he is a very well-off young man," answered her mother. "You're very lucky that his parents agreed to you meeting."

"How am I lucky for this?"

"Well, for one they're quite rich."

Okay, now I'm listening, thought Arin, which made a smile tickle the corners of her mouth.

"And he's about three years older than you. There are plenty of young women out there that they may consider better for him, so it's good that we're getting in so early," stated her mother, quite seriously. "It's your future Arin."

"Well, if it's so important to you and Father that I meet this Zorin you speak of, then I guess I will," smiled Arin before exiting her bedroom.

"The year was 2097," stated John. "Arin and Zorin's parents were trying to arrange a marriage between them, but at this point in time, neither of them were very fussed about the idea."

"What did Arin and Zorin look like?" asked Ebony.

"Well, Arin was rather short with tan coloured hair and oddly coloured eyes that sometimes appeared violet."

"Wow, I'll bet she never wore contacts."

"She couldn't, not with being not only the queen of Kuro and the leader of the female combat squad!"

"Oh, I should've known that."

"Now you do. Anyway, as I was saying…"

Zorin wasn't at all pleased with his parents' arrangements for that evening either. He hated dressing for it and all thoughts of what could happen.

"Why are you two making me do this?" he asked ignorantly as he stormed out onto the front porch where his parents were.

"It's purely for you son," said his father.

"Exactly, besides apparently this girl's far different from the others you've met," smiled his mother.

"I'm sure you'll like her, her parents seem nice."

"I'm sure they're just after our money," argued Zorin before re-entering the house and rushing up to his bedroom to sulk.

Later that afternoon, Arin had just finished getting ready when her father called her down to the car.

"I wish I were dead," she mumbled as she exited the house and locked the door behind her.

Zorin was thinking the words that Arin uttered. He wasn't looking forward to spending part of the night with a little girl. Soon enough, his nightmare became truth.

When the car stopped in front of a nicely done-up house, Arin guessed that this was the house of Zorin's family.

"Well, go on," said her mother, looking back at her.

"Go on what?" asked Arin sharply.

"Go knock on the door, we'll be right up," said her father.

"No way!"

"Yes way, now go!"

Arin eventually got out of the car and began an extremely long and what she thought to be a shameful walk to the front door.

"Zorin!" he heard his mother call. "Our guests have arrived! Come answer the door!"

"Why?" Zorin snapped back.

"She's your guest and she's coming to the door," his father called, "Now go!"

Damn it, thought Zorin. "Fine!" he called back down as he did a slow walk, much, unknown to him, like Arin was.

Arin rang the doorbell. "What have you two gotten me into?" she mumbled, turning back around and looking at her parents with evil eyes. "When I rule the world you'll be first to go."

Clearly the girl at the door didn't know Zorin had answered it when he did. He opened the door to the back of her head. Well, that's a bit rude, he thought.

"Excuse me," he said.

Arin hadn't even heard the door open, but she was suddenly glad it did. She quickly swivelled around in shock to find the most handsome face in the world staring down at her. She fought the blush that was coming on hard, but she was defeated and her cheeks turned bright red. "Hi," she said, a little shaky but trying to seem casual.

Zorin began thinking that the evening ahead wouldn't be so bad when he saw the face of the girl before him. He found her rather attractive, which somewhat surprised him. "Hey," he replied to her.

Arin was at a loss of words. Soon a question popped into her head. What if this wasn't Zorin?

"So," she began, "Are you Zorin?"

"Yep," he answered, introducing himself to her, "And you must be-!"

"Arin."

"Hmm, as I was about to say, nice to meet you, Arin."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Zorin."

Zorin and Arin didn't talk much through dinner. Their parents did most of it for them, though they caught each other looking at one another from time to time. Whenever they both went to have a stare they just laughed quietly and went back to eating.

After dinner was when it got interesting.

"Well, that was a delightful meal," smiled Arin's father.

"Yes, thank you," agreed Arin in a complimenting way.

Zorin's mother nodded and smiled, then an idea came to her. "Zorin, why don't you show Arin around?" she smiled. "I'm sure she'd love to see the place."

"Well…" began Zorin, a little unsure.

"Oh no, it's okay," smiled Arin, not knowing what to say or having any control over her mouth.

"Oh, go on," urged Zorin's mother further. "Us parents need to talk anyway, go on."

"Well, okay then," said Zorin as he stood. He looked at Arin. "Coming?" he asked.

Arin stood. "Of course," she smiled.

Zorin lead Arin far away from the dining room and out into the back yard. The sky was now dark and filled with stars. Zorin concentrated on it while Arin paid more attention to the yard around her.

"This place is awesome!" she said as she looked around enthusiastically.

"If you say so," said Zorin as he watched her, "I don't really think it is."

Arin looked at Zorin, smiled and walked toward him. "Well, maybe that's because you live here," she suggested.

"Perhaps," said Zorin as he smiled down at Arin.

Then, a strong and rather cold wind came up and blew against them. Arin found it cold and wasn't wearing much. She shivered and moved closer to Zorin, who unknowingly wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm. When the wind passed Arin looked up at him and smiled.

"Jeeze, it's like love at first sight," said Ebony. "That is so sappy!"

"It gets better, but you must remember, this is from the dark side," reminded John.

"These two don't sound too dark."

"They were young and in love. Don't you have somebody like that?"

"Nope, never have and probably never will."

"I should think not."

Arin and Zorin had decided that they wanted to continue seeing each other after that night. Just over one month had passed and the two were out on a date during the day. In a local park, Zorin was lying on the grass and Arin was sitting beside him, stroking his face, playing with his hair and occasionally giving him a light peck on the forehead. He smiled up at her, as he did whenever she did this. She smiled back.

"I love you," smiled Zorin.

"I love you too," said Arin with a sweet smile that Zorin always liked to see.

"Hmm…"

"What's the matter?"

"Do you like the thought of ruling the world from space?"

Arin giggled. "Well, I like the sound of ruling the world," she said, "But not from space."

"Why not from space?" asked Zorin as he sat up.

"I don't know. It just…scares me."

Zorin took Arin in his arms. "Poor Arin," he said.

"Why do you ask that anyway?" asked Arin.

"Well, I was thinking about doing something…"

"Like?"

"But I won't if you don't want to."

"Tell me first, then we can decide."

"Well, okay then."

"Zorin told Arin all about Kuro," explained John. "He also mentioned that he wanted to be a part of their plans."

"And how long did it take for Arin to decide to go up with him?" asked Ebony.

"Not very long. Zorin mentioned how much he wanted to be a part of Kuro and she was swayed before the day was out!"

"Was Arin a softy? Or was she just very in love?"

"In love, so in love with Zorin that she'd follow him to purgatory and back again."

"That didn't happen though, right?"

"Of course not, according to the religion in which purgatory is based, you can't bounce back from it."

"Ah, enough said, tell me more."

"Well, Zorin and Arin soon left to join Kuro…"

It was late at night when Arin and Zorin made their way together through the alley that hosted the entrance to the Kuro hideout. They were both a little unsure about what they were doing, but they both knew that they wanted to be together and far away from everything.

They soon found a door that they estimated to be the entrance.

"Is this it?" asked Arin as she moved closer to Zorin and wrapped her arms around one of his.

"I don't know," said Zorin, looking down at her and running his fingers through her hair, "If not it could be a source of directions."

"Maybe. Are you sure this is right?"

"Who cares? If it isn't then we'll be out of here in no time and if it is, well, nobody will know and we've got nothing to lose really."

"What about…each other?" asked Arin as she looked up at Zorin.

"Now that's not gonna happen. I will tell you now that we will never be apart."

"Well, in that case, give it a knock."

Zorin leaned over toward the door and tapped his knuckles against it a few times. It was only a matter of a few seconds before somebody answered it. The man was far shorter than Zorin and a little taller than Arin, if at all. He was dressed in black and hooded. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Um…well, we're looking for Kuro," stated Zorin, making his best effort to appear confident and surprisingly succeeding.

The little man appeared to nod. "Kuro is a tribe, not a person," he stated quietly before lifting his hood to reveal quite a normal looking head with black sunglasses over his eyes.

"I always thought it was a person," smiled Arin before giggling a little.

"Well, you will learn. Are you prepared to be one of the Kuro until the day you die? Trust in us? Have us trust in you?"

Arin looked up at Zorin and was a little startled to find him looking back down at her.

After a small conference between the young couple, Zorin presented the verdict.

"Yes," he said.