Prologue

The Southern sea breeze brought with it the smell of salty ocean brine. Somewhere above, in the vast expanse of the sky, a seagull cried in the ecstasy of flight and was soon joined by other sounds.

CLACK! THUNK!

Under the rocky arch of a coral sea cave’s shelf, two teenagers fought zealously against each other. One of them had long blond, nearly white, hair that extended to his shoulders and bright, seemingly neon green eyes that shone with unbridled fire. His name was Racio Haro and he was eighteen years of age. The other boy had wild, sandy brown hair that was beginning to droop down into his face because of sweat. His blue eyes shone with the same passion though he was a year younger, his name was Tyre Zalloua.

The two fought on a small coral islet just off the coast of the main island in the Atwegas, a tropical island group in the southern part of the Casha Sea.

They fought with wooden staves, dangerous and painful, but by no means deadly with how the two handled them. At the moment, these two were oblivious to the pain, because they had but one care, and she was sitting on a large rock just a few feet away, stringing seashells as if not noticing them.

She had fiery red hair tied in a braid down her back that was riddled with colorful island beads; her blue eyes that shone with the depth of the ocean, sparkled occasionally in the sunlight. There was a bright grin plastered onto her face as she watched the two continue on with their dance-like fight from the corner of her eyes. She was Flura Koras and was sixteen, she was also the envy of every boy on the Awatagas.

Both Tyre and Racio liked Flura, ever since she had arrived at their little island several years back. Both of them fought constantly for her attention, and this battle was no different. Regardless of the rivalry between them, Tyre and Racio were best friends. They had known each ever since either of them could remember, and on the island chain of the Atwegas, where only a few families lived, that was no small matter.

They had done everything together,so fightingover Flura was nomal.

WHACK! THUD!

“Oof!” Tyre stumbled back holding his bare stomach from a harsh swing by none other than Racio. As he stumbled, his heel hit a rock and he fell to the sand, beaten.

Racio wasted no time rubbing it in. “Ha! You’ll never beat me, Tyre! You might as well give up now! I’m just too fast and strong for you! Plus, you manage to leave your stomach open… every time!”

Tyre scowled at him and slowly and painfully rose to his feet, rubbing his stomach and dusting the sand off his brown island shorts. “One of these days, I’ll beat you! That’s a promise!”

Racio just chuckled, at times it seemed he was completely oblivious to distractions like pain in battle, but it was because his father had expertly taught him. Now Racio was teaching the skills to Tyre. “Whatever, Tyre.” He spied Flura hopping down from her stone seat and walking over to the duo, her burlap skirt rattling slightly with the many tiny seashells that she had woven into it.

“That one lasted over ten minutes! You’ve beaten your old record by over two minutes, Tyre!” She cried happily, tying off the necklace she had been working on and looped it several times around her slender neck. “Of course, he still whooped you, but hey! You’re getting better!”

Tyre rolled his eyes, jabbing his stave in the sand and stone covered ground. “Is it my fault that his hair somehow never gets in his eyes?”

“No, but it’s your fault that your hair always gets in yours.” Racio answered with a smirk, prompting a low growl from Tyre. Racio only smirked back as he grabbed is thin sleeveless shirt from where he had thrown it on the rocks at the beginning of the skirmish.

Flura giggled lightheartedly and put an arm around Tyre’s bare shoulders, her seaweed bracelets grading against his skin, and then proceeded to do the same with Racio. “It’s always something between you two, isn’t it?” She said with another giggle.

Racio looked over at the two, suddenly solemn. “So, are we still up for what we talked about earlier? Heading to the mainland, I mean.”

“Yeah!” Tyre and Flura cried simultaneously. Together, all three started to walk out of the sea cave to their kayaks tethered to a post they had set at the entrance.

“So, we’re just going to leave everything and everyone behind this time? Our parents, friends, home? I’m all for it, I have nothing left here, but if you two don’t want to do this, say so now.”

Tyre and Flura looked at each other. They both had a fire in their eyes that easily told each other their decision. Tyre looked back at Racio. “We’re ready.”

Racio shrugged off Flura’s arm and grinned. “Great! I’ll go start getting some rope and spare canvas. Tyre and Flura, you can help too. Get logs, rope, containers, rations, whatever you can find that will help us.” He counted off the items on his fingers. “We don’t know how long it will take to reach the mainland, so we’re going to need lots of food and water.”

They were quite naïve for teenagers, of course. It was a dangerous thing they were planning. One that could wind up getting all three of them killed, but all three of them were of the adventurous sort. Ready to do whatever it took for a big adventure. Racio, however, was probably the most adventurous of them all, his spirit brought him to adventure and he craved for it.

…Maybe that was why they chose him … no, it was because of his soul. His soul was strong. Stronger than Flura’s. Stronger than Tyre’s…Strong enough to hold what they wanted. The passion in his soul guided them to him, but by the time he realized what they were after, it would be too late…

But of course, that is getting ahead of the story…