1. Kouko Sennyu

The day the Phoenix descends from the sky,

The moment the Dragon ascends from the sea,

An era is born from dragon’s roar and phoenix’s cry:

An era of legend, of myth, of magery.

Sunlight filtered through the window, gold changed into light by some strange alchemical experiment. It collected on the flowing script of ancient verse, written anew in a much-read book. A long-fingered, graceful hand rested on the page opposite the writing, a page that displayed a colorful image: that of a fiery bird trailed by six colored stars, diving downward towards a rising water dragon that swam up from the frothy sea amidst six shimmering points of light.

Children of the Phoenix, unveil your kin.

Possessors of the elements, reveal the legends within.

One from each race, ancient and new:

Sennyu, ‘tis yours to lead the way through.

The owner of the hand that now followed each word on the decorated page whispered the verse softly. Two piercing violet eyes seemed to stare past the paper to another world and another place, seemed to see more than mere words. She looked beyond the page into a possibility, impossibility: an ancient world of myth and magic, where legends walked and breathed and were reality- even normalcy, if the silver mists of dream could ever be named normal.

Children of the Dragon, conceal your kin.

Possessors of the elements, hide the legends within.

One from each race, ancient and new:

Sennyu, ‘tis yours to block the way through.

The one who held the strange, beautiful book was no less unusual- and no less beautiful. She was tall- anyone could see that with a single glance, though she sat on the window seat with her long legs folded beneath her and her head bent over her book. The golden sunlight seemed to make her pale skin sparkle almost silver, and it gleamed off of the golden phoenix pendant around her neck. Frozen in a moment that stretched on forever as violet eyes continued to follow the words, her otherworldly and ethereal beauty was only accented by the sense of the unreal that permeated the sunlit room, perhaps due to that singular book.

Will this new age be death or new life?

Two paths mirror each other, and fate shall not choose.

Ryuko and Kouko, twins torn by strife:

Which one is death, and which one is life?

She brushed a wayward strand of long, silver-blonde hair out of her captivating, soul-piercing eyes as she reached the end of the page. With a sigh, she closed the worn volume, and the passing sun glinted off the golden title: Shinwa Shiranai. A voice out of long-ago memory echoed in her mind as if speaking in that very moment: Everything in this book is true. You must understand that- you most of all…

“Oh, Kumi!! There you are!â€