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Chronicles of the Aquarius Clan

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Prologue

Five Great Dragons Sleep Alone,

Five Great Powers All Their Own.

Flare’s Heat Burns Ever Higher,

Bound By Aquil’s Liquid Spiral.

Bolt’s Lightning Dances Around,

But In Frezia’s Ice Pure Peace Is Found.

Guiding All, Without A Fight,

The Sacred Power, Kalron’s Light.

From the prologue of the sealed tome The Great Dragons

7 Year Old James Aquarius was a very lucky person. He was next in line to be head of the Aquarius Clan, one of the most well known groups alive. This, all alone, was good. The Clan itself had nine Houses, but it was only the First House that had the true powers of the Clan. While all members of the Aquarius Clan (Excluding the Ninth House’s members in some cases) were able to turn into dragons of one element, and control dragons of the same element, the First House's members could turn into and control dragons of any element. There were also many other powers that were available to them, but few got those. James, again, was lucky. His powers were the strongest that had ever been seen since the founder of the Clan lived. His magic was dangerous, or at least it would be once he got it under control. That was the downside to having the power; you had to learn to control it. James' sword skills were also very good, mostly because of his intense training plan, which involved four hours a day of nothing but practice with a blade. James Aquarius had dark brown hair, and eyes that were completely white, with just the faintest hint of red. He tended to wear black clothes. Rai Aquarius, James' 6 Year Old brother, looked up greatly to the next head of the Clan. Rai had dark hair as well, but had golden eyes. His powers were quite a bit weaker then James', but still pretty strong. And it was time for something very... interesting, as it were, to occur.

"James!" said boy's mother yelled. In response, the boy slid down a rail to land perfectly in front of her. This was nothing particularly dangerous, nor frowned upon. The rail had been made to slide upon, since those who had built it figured that people were going to anyways. They were strange like that.

"Yes, mom?" James asked brightly. He'd had a good day so far, with nothing to worry about. And, naturally, that was about to change.

"We're going on an extended trip. Start packing." the boy's mother said, smiling. It was the smile that made James start to become nervous, he didn't think this could mean anything good.

"...Rai coming?" James asked hesitantly. If Rai was, it usually meant things wouldn't be quite as bad as they were if he was to do something alone.

"No. Just you, me, your father, and a few others who insisted." James' mother replied. The boy sighed, knowing that something big must be about to happen.

"Oh." he sighed out. And with that, the young prodigy ran back upstairs to pack. It didn't take him very long, considering that he didn't need quite as much as most people to survive, by nature.

Several days later, James, his parents, and several others who'd come along on the trip were well on their way to another country. Travel by carriage was convenient, though extremely boring. James would have much preferred to travel by dragon, but had been told that was not proper. Why it actually mattered was something he didn't understand, but he didn't really care either.

"Hmm... I think that now would be a good time to stop for lunch." James' dad said suddenly. Their caravan of carriages was located at the top of a hill overlooking a port town at the moment; it really was a convenient place to stop.

"I'm going into town for a few minutes." James said. Nobody particularly cared, since they knew that anybody who tried to hurt him would be met with a large and painful gash somewhere on their body. James wasn't all that old, but that didn't mean he couldn't defend himself. So, the kid strolled into the town, looking around with interest. He'd never been in a port town before, and was thus surprised to see all the warehouses.

"I wonder what's inside of those things..." he said absent-mindedly. And, being still a kid, he headed over to one of them. But it was a good thing he picked that one, simple luck was what was about to make things a bit more interesting.

Inside the Warehouse, James found a young girl and a large, buff man towards the middle. The man looked both eager and enraged.

"W-what do you want from me?" the young girl squeaked out, looking terrified. James felt some amount of pity for her; this situation was not at all in her favor.

"Your magical potential is amazing. I'm going to take every last drop of it and show everybody who the REAL leader of these lands deserves to be." snarled the buff guy as he reached out a hand towards the tiny girl. It was obvious to everybody present that unless somebody intervened, he would have what he wanted. And James Aquarius was the only one who could intervene, so that's exactly what he did.

"Shining Ray!!!" the boy shouted. A massive blast of power shot out from one of his fingers, blasting the buff dude straight through the wall, through several more walls, and finally into the ocean. The boy looked at his finger and scowled a moment later, upset that the guy he'd hit with it hadn't gone further.

"W-wow!!" the girl said, awed. "That was amazing!!"

"I thought you could use a little help. I'm James." James said, smiling as he hopped down from a crate to land next to the girl. His body, being naturally stronger then that of a human's, wasn't hurt a bit by the impact.

"F-fiona." the girl replied. She had platinum-blonde hair that went an inch past her shoulders, and exceptionally bright green eyes. Her clothes were ragged, but not indecent in exposing any part of her body. Overall, she gave a very strong impression of cuteness and vulnerability.

"What was his problem, anyway?" James asked, looking at the hole in the wall.

"Um... H-he wanted my magic... He burned down my home, drove away all my friends..." Fiona began, looking very nervous indeed. "See, a Reader said that I was exceptionally talented, but that information leaked out somehow, and people have been after me ever since, trying to get my power for themselves."

"Oh. Well, if you want, you can come with me. Some of my family's on a trip right now." James offered. "You're probably safer with us then with anyone or anywhere else in the world." He had a gut feeling that he should help her, and so was determined to do so.

"R-really?" Fiona asked. "Y-you don't mind if I'm going with you?"

"I don't mind a bit. And I can't see why my family wouldn't approve of me helping people." James said, smiling brightly. "They encourage me to help others all the time, so they shouldn't mind this at all."

"T-thank you..." Fiona whispered. And with that, the two headed back to the carriages. A few minutes later, the two kids were chatting about all sorts of things of interest to them, which caused a few grins amid the older people. Both of them were acting just like kids, and that was okay, because they were kids. The smarter ones, however, wondered if Fiona had any idea she was talking casually with someone who would one day be among the most important people alive. In fact, he was already one of the most important people alive, simply by being who he was.

Many more days later, the caravan of carriages arrived in front of a majestic castle. The walls were spotlessly clean, the grass well-tended, the people extremely happy, the animals well fed and groomed, and the guards cheerful and alert. James got the distinct impression it was all show and no substance, but had no proof.

"Welcome to Hitara Castle, your majesties." said one of the guards as James' parents climbed out of their carriage. It was an adequate enough greeting from a Guard, so most people probably wouldn't mind.

"Thank you." came the reply from James' father as the main gates opened and the carriages rolled inside. He and his wife walked inside next to the first carriage, not wanting to go through the trouble of getting back inside. James, however, didn't bother getting out. He just kept talking to Fiona, which was far more interesting to him. After a few moments, the King and Queen of Hitara came out, looking very stately in clothes that would have cost most people ten years' wages.

"Ah, welcome, welcome to Hitara Castle, Lord Berion!!" Hitara's King said happily, clapping his hands together once. "It is indeed an honor to have you visit us here in our humble castle."

"Is there anything you need right now?" the wife of aforementioned King asked, looking like she hoped they would say 'Yes'.

"No, no, we're fine." said James' father jovially, smiling widely. Though nobody would say it, they all knew he was saying that just to bug her. "We brought everything we needed, you don't need to bother yourselves."

"James, come out and pay your respects!!" James' mother ordered sharply, turning back to the carriage. Sighing, the boy got out of the carriage, bowed to the King and Queen of Hitara, and went back inside the transport, where he resumed his conversation with Fiona.

"..." Nobody could really think of anything to say right now, resulting in a long moment of silence.

"...Kind of a weird boy." Hitara's king said, blinking. "Not at all like what we were told to expect." he shrugged, keeping a smile on his face.

"I think he just wanted to get back to talking with his friend." James' mom muttered, sighing. "Sometimes he's a rather simple-minded boy, concerned only with what he likes."

"Friend?" the King of Hitara inquired, looking interested.

"A few days ago, James rescued this sweet little girl from some thug person who wanted her magic. She's been traveling with us ever since." James' dad explained. "They've already become good friends, and no sign of romantic interest whatsoever."

"Ah. Well, do you suppose we should break the news to them now?" Hitara's king asked, looking a tad mischievous.

"May as well." Lord Berion said, nodding.

"Guard, please go fetch Princess Arianna." Hitara's queen instructed. A guard instantly ran off to carry out the orders he had been given. A few minutes later, Princess Arianna walked into the courtyard and faced her parents. Arianna’s hair was 6 inches longer then Fiona's, was a brilliant bronze in color, and was all-natural. Her eyes matched her hair so identically in color that it was scary. She was dressed in a nice green gown, very modest in nature.

"Yes, father?" the princess asked politely.

"Turn towards the carriage over there." her father ordered. Confused, the young girl did so, wondering what was going on. There was obviously something happening that concerned her, but she couldn't understand what it was.

"James!!! Get out here!!!" the boy's father ordered. With a scowl on his face, the boy did so, looking annoyed at being interrupted from his nice conversation with a friend again.

"What now?" the boy asked grumpily, glaring at his father in a way suggesting that he was going to get revenge for this.

"Walk over to that girl and look at her." James' father ordered. Bored beyond reason, the boy did so, staring into Arianna's eyes.

"What exactly is the point of this?" he asked nobody in particular. Nobody, of course, couldn't hear him, being a resident of the distant city of Particular. And thus couldn't answer.

"Your eyes are all weird." Arianna said, looking at James' strange eyes. She sort of liked them, they were different. And to kids, different was interesting.

"They're always like that." James replied, slightly less bored. He didn't hear questions about his eyes very often, members of the First House of the Aquarius Clan tended to have eyes like his, and most people around him knew it.

"James, you are looking at your future wife." James' father said. These words took a little while to penetrate the minds of the kids, since they didn't immediately understand it.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What!?" the boy James yelled suddenly. He spun around and glared fiercely at his father, formulating something to scream at his father besides a one-word-question. He understood what his father meant, to some degree, since he had been studying more advanced words just for the heck of it.

"That girl is going your future wife. The arrangements have already been made." said father replied sternly. "You have no choice in this; You will accept it."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!?!?" James shouted, his fury not cooled one bit. He hated it when people did things like this to him; it made him very upset. It was a very good thing that Lord Berion was the target of the boy’s anger; he was one of the few people who could keep the boy under control.

"Because." Lord Berion replied. At that moment, Fiona climbed out of the carriage, looking a bit nervous.

"Um... I heard shouting..." she muttered, looking around hesitantly.

"There is going to be more then a little pain for this one." James said darkly, cracking his knuckles. He always got revenge on those he set out to get revenge on, one way or another.

"Do you not like Princess Arianna?" James' mother asked, concerned. If he already hated her, that would be a major problem to the Plan.

"That has nothing to do with this. I'm mad because nobody told me that this was gonna happen!" James replied sharply.

"Why didn't anybody tell me?" Arianna asked, confused. After all, she was a princess! She was supposed to be told everything! Wasn't she?

"We thought it would be best to tell you after you'd seen him, dear." Arianna's mother replied consolingly.

"I hate you old people. Fiona and whatever your name is, you don't count. Yet, at least." James said, climbing back into the carriage. Fiona followed seconds later, looking apologetic.

"..." was the general response, since again nobody could think of anything to say for a few moments.

"Boy, our word is final. Besides, you won't be getting married for more then a decade." James' father told his son, through the wall of the carriage.

"I am going to get you for this. Just wait." a male voice from inside the carriage said firmly.

Little did he know what the future years would bring.