Chapter I

The wind rustled the spring leaves of Lenora Park. A girl at thirteen with blue eyes, neck-length brown hair, and two-layered-bangs, with a top blonde layer on both sides and a bottom brunette layer filling in the rest, walked along the dirt path, looking up to the sky. Her eyes were slightly glazed as she daydreamed, yet soon her gaze changed to the ground. Her name was Brietta Marshal, and she’d just moved to this town a few days ago. Right now she was taking a fifty-five minute break from home schooling and was getting some fresh air and exercise. The next lesson was a review on “The Periodic Table of Elements,” with jello that would be eaten as a snack. That in mind, she soon came upon a bench and sat down to take a short rest. She looked over to the cherry-blossom trees and gave a sigh and then relaxed as serenity washed over her.

“Brietta!”

Well, that didn’t last too long, she thought to herself and looked to see who was coming. It was a girl who was about a year younger than she who had long blonde hair put up into pig-tails, no bangs, and dark brown eyes. The girl came to the bench and collapsed on it. Brietta met this girl on the first day she’d moved here because they were neighbors.

“What’s wrong Heather?” Brietta asked the young girl.

“I just wanted to come and talk for a little while,” Heather replied.

“Okay then,” Brietta said, “I’m taking a quick break right now, so I can talk for a bit.”

“Yay!” Heather cheered and gave Brietta a brief, friendly hug.

“Hey, why are you out of school now?” Brietta inquired. “Today’s a school day.”

“Dentist appointment,” Heather replied.

“Got any cavities?” Brietta asked.

“Nope,” Heather said, “I’ve got a tooth coming in and it hurts.” She gave a groan as pain came into her mouth.

Brietta put a hand on the girl’s shoulder and said, “It’ll get better; it did for me.”

“I know,” the girl replied, “But thanks anyways.”

“Dou itashimashite (It’s okay.),” Brietta replied.

“Wah?” Heather stared at her curiously.

“Don’t mention it,” Brietta ‘translated’.

“Oh! Cool!” Heather replied

Brietta didn’t exactly study the Japanese language, but knew a few different words and phrases that people around this area didn’t know. Plus, Heather wanted to find out, so it was cool.

“Arigatou (Thank you),” Brietta said.

“That means ‘thank you’ right?” Heather asked.

“Hai (Yes),” Breitta nodded.

“Yeah!” Heather punched the air and they both laughed.

Brietta looked at her watch; it was one sixteen. “I’m gonna continue now, do you want to go with me?”

“Just until I get to my mom,” Heather replied and skipped on ahead.

“Ok,” Brietta said and skipped along until they came to Heather’s mom along the way. Afterwards, Brietta continued to walk some more. Along the way, she came to another bench and saw a piece of paper only lightly held down by a silver necklace. She picked them both up, sat down, and then examined the paper first. On one side, it looked somewhat like a baking recipe and a scientific experiment with elements and their combinations. Something else caught her eye; the bottom of the paper was torn.

Well, next, she examined the chain; it was elegant where every little piece was evenly smooth and wavy. She looked around curiously, and then stood up. She only laid down the silver chain, and then folded the paper and put it in her pocket. Her watch’s alarm suddenly went off and she looked at it; it was one thirty. She shot off like a bullet from a gun and ran through the middle of the park, where a walkway had been conveniently placed, and then home with only ten seconds to spare.

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A silver spoon gathered up a piece of pink jello and Brietta ate it while looking at “The Periodic Table of Elements,” then at the paper from the park. Well, from what she saw, every one of these elements could be found at home. So, she went to gather them and then began to see how to combine all of these baking and scientific ingredients safely. Now, to begin to feed her curiosity, she put on some goggles.

Brietta then began to mix them and follow the paper’s instructions. After a good while, she finally finished and came out with a blue liquid. Turning the paper over, she read the beginning of it. “And now you must drinketh from thy silver cup the violet liquid and readeth the following words.” The rest of the words were gone from where it was torn. Well then, Brietta thought, I still wonder about who wrote this. It’s pretty much old-time and modern-age.

Brietta blinked and then looked at the liquid; it was blue, not purple. She sighed in failure, and ate another bite of jello. She stood up and walked over to and through her bedroom door. Yet, unknown to her, she accidentally spilt some of the blue liquid into the pink jello’s container. The jello turned purple and the bowl stood itself up. A moment later, Brietta came back in with a wet rag for the small mess that she’d made from the experiment. She picked up the piece of paper first, but then suddenly felt tired and weak. The next thing she knew, she was holding up her spoon that had a dark purple liquid in it and began to speak unwillingly…

“As evil begins to spread through Earth and the unknown land of Legatia, it is I that must fight. As I drink this violet liquid, I gain secret powers of light. I hide my identity behind a mask on Earth, and I take up my responsibility that was given since birth.”

Brietta drank the fruity purple liquid and fainted to the floor.

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She felt wind flow past her, and saw feathers passing along. Clouds and light surrounded her as she felt weightless and free. In front of her stood the blackish blue nighttime sky that surrounded a floating young girl. The girl seemed about Brietta’s age, but had dark blue eyes and purple hair with black top-layered bangs that were pulled into a long braid. Her clothing seemed futuristic and somewhat tight on her.

Both girls stared at each other for a long time, but then they held out both of their hands. A bright colorful light immerged from them…

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Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Brietta yawned and stretched, then blinked and looked over at her alarm clock. She hit the top of it and jumped off of her bed. Curiously, she looked over at her desk; it was clean. Looking even closer, she saw that the paper was gone. She rubbed her eyes and looked again; she had the same result. “Eh, oh well,” she shrugged. “Must have just been a dream.”

She got dressed and ready for the day, and then went to the park after breakfast. As she walked, she felt calm, maybe a little too calm. Few people were there and the wind was completely calm, so it seemed a little eerie and it began to feel more like summer rather than spring. Parts of the park began to seem even clearer to her, and she stopped at a familiar bench. On it was a silver-chain necklace; the same one from the day before. She picked it up and again felt the overwhelming feeling of weakness, but this time, she dropped the item in shock.

A cold chill came down her back as she felt something coming. Something, something, what? She couldn’t tell what it was. What ever it was though, it was coming closer and growing stronger. Brietta knelt down and picked up the necklace, and began to feel weak. Something wrapped itself around her tightly and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Her eyes glazed as her voice fainted and she saw something, or someone, coming towards her. They seemed to have a sling-shot in his hands at first, but then had a dagger when she blinked and after she closed her eyes. The thing began to choke her and she felt helpless and as if… as if… as if she was about to…

As if she were falling. Suddenly, she met the ground but was then picked up and moved. Her breathe quickly came back, and she began to hear someone calling her name. Again, she felt as if she was being moved and then her name was being called. The same thing happened, one or two more times, and she slowly gained strength enough to open her eyes. “Wah?”

“Brietta! You’ve got to overcome it! Overcome the force upon you!” She saw blue eyes looking straight at her.

She was again moved, yet higher, and saw trees pass her as she gained strength. Her feet pressed against the ground a moment later, and she heard the person speak again.

“Can you stand?” It was a young boy’s voice.

“I-I can try,” Brietta replied with a small nod. She felt herself shaking slightly, but she was still slowly growing stronger.

“Try to put on the necklace.”

The necklace… the necklace…. the necklace! It was still in her hand! Brietta nodded and held it in both hands. She brought it up to eye level and began to shakily undo the clasp. After several tries, she had succeeded, but was again taken to the trees and back to the ground. Once they landed, she proceeded to redo the clasp when she had it up around her neck. Her hands were sweaty, but she made it in one try.

A light started to form from the necklace and then ended at the round end point near her chest. Then, a ring formed itself from the light and faded to silver. A purplish-pink sparkle began in the center of it and then became a pink, octagonal-shaped diamond with a purple, crystal-like arrow in the middle.

Brietta held it in her hand and stared at it. She was amazed, yet confused at what was going on. “Sugoi (Amazing),” she breathed.

“Brietta, look out!” The boy called before pushing her out of the way.

A completely black mass of a water-like substance rushed after them once the black blob turned around. The boy grabbed one of Brietta’s arms and jumped up into a tree.

“Jump to the next branch,” he said, “And follow me.”

Brietta did as told. She was glad that he continued to hold her arm until she got the hang of jumping from one branch to the other, and then continuing to the next. When he let go, she felt the way she did when she first rode her bike without help. It was scary, but she got used to it. The scariest part of it, to her, was that they were still running from that… thing.

“Where are we going?” Brietta asked.

“To the lake,” the boy replied.

“Why?” Brietta asked.

“You’ll see,” he replied. He broke the silence afterwards and called, “Just keep jumping!” He stopped.

“What? Why?” Brietta asked and was about to look back to see him, but she began to slip from the branch where she was standing. Before falling, she slightly pushed forward and caught a branch and swung forward. She felt the bark scratch her hands as she did, but came to the next branch and saw the lake.

“Keep going!” The boy from behind her called and she cautiously continued.

Few branches were left. Four more… three more… two more… she thought and felt weakness washing over her again. Last one, she came to it and bent down like a frog; strength came to her faster than before Release, she thought as she pushed off with all of her might and soared over the lake. It glimmered from the light of the sun. Though she felt scared at how high up she was, she smiled and closed her eyes… Light and free as a feather, the thought came through her mind. Cherry Blossoms from the park blew past. Serenity.

Lightly, and to her amazement, she landed just above the water. Energy seemed to flow through her and it was shown through the ripples in the water. Three lights began to glow around her waist before spinning faster and faster. They became silver and became one, and then it came up to the amulet on her necklace. The amulet began to glow, and the light and chain went into it, and then it came to the top of her head while the crystal and diamond disappeared. The rest slowly came down past her (while growing bigger or smaller at some points), and she… transformed.

First, her top bangs lengthened while coming together where it became a long braid and ended with a small brown hair bow. The rest of her hair lengthened with it and came down just past the middle of her back. Her short-sleeved shirt became a purple elbow-length-sleeved dress where the skirt came near the middle of her knees and ankles. She gained short pink gloves with blue at the tips, and her shoes became pink boots. Around her stomach was a medium belt that had a white eight-pointed star on it and from her back formed two, medium white wings.

Brietta held up her right hand and called out, “Aurora Blade of Light!” A light formed near the top of the hand and the star disappeared from her belt. From the light came an elongated version of the star and from the top point came a long silver blade, and from the bottom came a short, wrapped up handle. She grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it down in front of her to where her wings were. The wings seemed to ‘digitalize’ from her back to the sword. They became steel and formed a kind of outline of it (the bottom excluded) and ended sharply at the sides.

The darkness jumped towards Brietta to surround her; she held up the sword with both hands. “Time,” She whispered and closed her eyes as the darkness began to engulfed her and the lake. Suddenly, the world seemed to stop for everyone and time changed. The fiery red sun became the cool blue-white moon, the white clouds formed into millions of silver stars, and the light blue sky darkened. The North Star that stuck from the top of the Little Dipper brightened, and a multicolored light came from it to the tip of Brietta’s sword before it was finally engulfed from the darkness also.

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Brietta felt herself floating inside some sort of void. She opened her eyes and looked around; there was nothing there. A light shown brightly from somewhere and she looked around to see that it was. Nothing around her as glowing, but she saw that she was the one glowing when she looked at her hand. “Nani (What?). What’s going on?” she asked.

“You shall give us the amulet,” dual voices replied and two people in black hooded robes that hid their identity towards her came from the empty space.

Brietta looked at her hand as it suddenly felt brighter and she felt strong and dominate. She looked up at them and replied, “No.”

She held up her hand and the sword came to her, or she came to it. Now, she slashed it forward. She continually slashed every bit of the darkness until she finally passed out.

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The boy that Brietta had met earlier watched the event until it finished (yet from another view.) and gave a small grin. He jumped towards another branch and looked up to the moon. Someone stood in front of the light from atop a tree, and the boy watched as time changed.

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“Uuugh,” Brietta groaned and felt herself lying… on a bench. She sat up and ruffled her forehead. “Whoa,” She blinked. How’d I get here? she thought and looked up at the cherry blossom trees. Oh! I must’ve fallen asleep and had that weird dream. Now that makes sense. I would never have been so dominate against people like that.

She sat up and yawned while stretching. “What a weird dream.”

“What was it about?” a voice from beside her asked.

“Something about an amulet, a necklace…” she stopped and thought for a moment. Why am I talking to a stranger? She turned around to see the same blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy sitting right beside her.

He looked at her curiously, “What else?”

“A boy… and.. wait… who are you?” she asked.

“Me?” he asked.

“Who else?” she asked.

“Oh yeah,” he said, “Well, my name’s Kanomo Chigawa.”

“Kanomo Chigawa?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” she said.

“So, why are you here?”

He seemed to think about it.

“Why?” Brietta inquired.

“I was sent to earth to tell you something,” he replied.

It may seem rude, but I’d rather run. Brietta thought. I don’t know think that talking to a stranger would be good. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 5:32 p.m. “Nani!!! I was here at eight a.m.!” Looking at the boy, she said, “Sorry, but I’ve got to go home.” Then, she ran for her house. As she turned one corner, she suddenly just blanked out.

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Brietta reached for a blanket and found it; she pulled it up to her and hugged it. The next thing she knew was that she had to wake up. She gave a yawn and stretched. Stopping the alarm, she sat up and blinked. Today must be Saturday again then, she thought. Cause that had to be a dream. She looked over at her alarm clock and saw the day; Sunday. Then, she plopped back on her bed. Did I sleep all day yesterday? Shaking her head, she got out of bed and got ready for the day. Coming downstairs, she was met with a surprise.

At the very end of the stairs was a golden retriever. Its fur was shining and new, with bright brown eyes. It barked once and walked away. Brietta walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. The dog was lying cozily in a corner. She was then almost trampled on by twins. One a girl; the other a boy.

“Guess what! Guess what!” They chorused.

“What?” Brietta asked, getting up.

“We’ve got a doggie!” They cheered.

Brietta looked over at the dog; that was enjoying the peace and quite of his little corner; even if it didn’t last long. The twins immediately ran to him and started to pet him and pull his ears. Brietta walked over to the table and gave a sigh.

“So how’d you sleep?” her mother asked. She had long blonde hair and shining blue eyes.

“Good,” Brietta replied, “So, when did we get a dog?”

“Last night,” her mother said, “when I brought the twins back from your aunt’s house. We found him outside, sitting as if he knew we’d come. The twins just had to keep him, and I decided that it would be good to have a dog around the house, so we kept him. You were asleep in bed when we went for you to name him.”

“So, did the twins name him?” Brietta asked.

The girl twin (May), who had blond hair in pigtails and bright blue eyes (kind of like Heather) came up to her and answered the question. “You get to name him Brietta!”

Brietta turned around to look at the dog; he seemed familiar. She lightly squinted her eyes, and then they widened. “Ka… nomo… Kao.” The dog looked up at her and eyes met.

“Kao!” The blue-eyes brunet boy twin (Ray) called out.

“Kao!” May followed.

“Kao! Kao! Kao!” They began to cheer over and over again.

Brietta’s mother gave out a short laugh. “Kanomo? Is that what you said?”

“Yeah,” Brietta replied.

“Where did that come from? It sounds Chinese or something?” she said.

“Thin air,” Brietta answered where it came from. “It’s probably between that and Japanese.”

Her mother nodded in understanding, and then walked over to the cabinet. She gathered two different boxes. Turning around she asked, “Oatmeal or cereal?”

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Brietta looked from one side of the road to the other twice. She walked over to the other side and held the leash while Kao followed beside her. They were walking to the park and it was already about two. Brietta held up the amulet that was connected to the necklace around her neck, and remembered how it had formed in her ‘dream’ last night. She shook her head of it and they entered the park.

The warm breeze passed them by softly. Brietta smiled and looked down at Kao. “Nice weather huh?” she asked.

Kao looked up at her and then barked happily.

Brietta giggled and looked ahead. “I see why dogs are man’s best friend,” she said. “So where’d you find this?” She looked at him and held the amulet in her hand to him. Kao stopped for a moment and looked straight at her.

He then looked ahead and suddenly shot forward through the park. After passing by the bench, he ran straight to the lake. Brietta stopped when they arrived and looked out at it. The memory of last night passed through her mind. She blinked a few times and then shook her head. Kao ran to the shore when Brietta let go.

The leash disappeared and Kao became Kanomo, and Brietta now noticed what he was wearing. He wore a red jacket that split along the bottom to about mid-thigh length after four buttons and had a golden Chinese style collar that stuck out at the sides. His sleeves were folded and had a golden lining, along with the sides of his outfit that also went up to his shoulders and seemed to spread out and show a ‘commander’ look. It had the afore mentioned buttons and all but the top one was golden, where it was red with a gold lining and center flame. Underneath he had a black shirt, gold pants, and black flat boots.

Brietta stood in frozen shock…

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