The Star Saga: A Wished Fate

Vol. 1, Chapter 1

Izumi

"Ryo?" Izumi called out, she put her hand to the side of her mouth and tried again. "Ryo where are you?" She called again and again, but no answer came from the blackness. The sticky hot blackness that surrounded her had stolen him away. She turned around and around, not daring to move one step in fear of the black eating her as well. Izumi didn't know how she got in the dark prison, all she knew was that it took her friend away from her and that she wanted out. But she was too afraid to run.

"Ryo, where are you?" She screamed again, but only her echo answered. She turned around again as she heard the smallest of sounds. "Ryo?"

The sound got a little louder; it was hard, but she could make out Ryo's voice calling back to her."Don't go Izumi, don't you dare follow me!"

Izumi was confused. "What?" She gasped and took a step. "Ryo?"

Then suddenly the blackness melted away and the floor where Izumi had be standing did as well. She started to fall. Rapidly she fell through the black melting away into white. As she fell the white became brighter and the black faded further and further away.

She screamed until her lungs felt as if they were going to burst, and still she fell. Falling to no end, it seemed. But then, out loomed a great black shadow above her, a bat shaped shadow; one that Izumi knew was nothing but trouble. She opened her mouth to scream again, but had no chance as her sight went black again.

Izumi screamed, bolting up in her seat. She was sitting at her desk, she must have fallen asleep while doing homework. She pulled a paper of one of her sweating palms and wiped her forehead. The teenage girl looked around her room, everything seemed to be the way it was before.

New birthday presents were piled on a chair near her closet door, she had opened them yesterday. Two new sweaters from her grandma; a stereo, books, a DVD, a pink skirt and some CDs from her parents; and her favorite gift: a teddy-bunny from Ryo. The bunny had a gold chain around it's neck with a star shaped locket.

Izumi smiled and picked up the bunny, she held it close to her and looked at her clock. The green letters glared at her: 12:49. She had been fourteen for forty-nine minutes. Izumi smiled and walked back to her desk. She piled all of her unfinished homework and went to bed.

Izumi breathed in the cool November air. She did a spin in the middle of the sidewalk and kept walking. The late autumn had stained the leaves of the trees lining the sidewalk bright orange and deep red. A flock of geese flying south could be heard honking over the rustling of the leaves.

Izumi turned a corner and saw Ryo in the distance. She was relieved when she saw him waiting by the school gates. That nightmare had scared her last night, and even though she knew it wasn't real, she was still worried. She adjusted her backpack and waved to her friend.

Ryo looked up from a page he was reading— no doubt he was frantically studying before their science test third period. He smiled and waved back at her. Suddenly, a gust of wind came and blew the piece of paper out of his hand. He gasped. "Oh no!"

Izumi was lucky enough to catch the paper. It was a crinkled piece of lined paper with messy words and formulas scrawled across it. She laughed and handed it back to him. "Here, you'll need this."

Ryo smiled again and shook his head. "Its not like I won't fail it anyways." He folded the notes up and put them in the pocket of his blazer. "So, how's the fourteen year old?" He laughed. "Feeling old?"

Izumi rolled her eyes. "Come on, you're older then I am." She poked him. Ryo would be fifteen in January.

She looked at him. This was the first time Ryo had worn the winter school uniform. There was no denying that he looked great in the black pants, white shirt, black and blue striped tie and black blazer with a blue school crest sewn on the front pocket. She, however, had been wearing her longer, winter skirt and stockings since late September.

Ryo checked his watch and then gasped. "Hey come on, we'd better hurry. We only have three minutes until the bell rings." He took her hand and they walked onto the school grounds.

Izumi couldn't concentrate. She sighed and looked up from the book she was supposed to be following along with. She sighed again and looked over at Ryo.

Ryo was a few seats over, jotting down notes in the margins of his paper. His emerald green eyes flying from his page, to the history textbook and up to their teacher, pacing through the lines of desks.

Izumi shuffled in her chair and turned the page. She only heard the next few words from her teacher until she slipped off into sleep.

She landed in total blackness. She turned around and around again. "No..." She sighed. Izumi was lost again in the uncomfortable darkness.

Suddenly a red spider web of light snaked out above her. Thunder boomed in response. The girl was caught up in a blood coloured storm, all alone. She felt so hopeless and scared. These dreams were so real, and all she had to do was wait to wake up.

"Izumi!"

A voice screamed out to her from the darkness— a voice she knew as Ryo's. Her hopes soared, but this time she knew not to leave her stop. "Ryo?" She screamed back over the thunder.

Ryo's voice didn't reply for a while. And when it finally did it was stranger and closer then before. "Izumi!"

Izumi turned around to face where the sound came from. "Ryo!" She called, and the blackness was lit up with blood coloured lightning again.

In the sudden flash, Izumi saw a silhouette. The same bat-winged silhouette, the same that she saw in her nightmare last night. She gasped. "Ryo?" She called again, but it was drowned out by more booming thunder.

The silhouette stretched out it's wings to full span and in another red flash Izumi saw it speeding towards her. She screamed, putting her arms up to somehow protect her from the advancing shadow. But it stopped only a few paces away from her and green eyes emerged. They blinked slowly and Ryo's voice spoke again. "Izumi."

Izumi was confused out of her mind. "Ryo? Is that you?"

"It is." The silhouette replied.

Izumi gasped again as the dark was yet again filled with blood red light. It was in fact Ryo, but not the way she knew him. He was dressed all in black, his bright green eyes and platinum hair with its tips dyed red were the only things familiar. He had black wings adorning his back, complete with a matching tail. His teeth had became fangs, his fingernails became black claws and his pupils grew into cat-like slits.

"Ryo!" She screamed. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing." The demented Ryo replied. "For I have always been this way."

Izumi was stirred awake by someone shaking her gently. "Izumi?" Said the soft familiar voice of Ryo. "Izumi, wake up." She opened her eyes and when they focused she was met with Ryo's big green ones. She gasped and sat up straight in her seat.

Her friend smiled at her. "Hey sleepy head, it's lunch time now. You're lucky Ms. Parker didn't catch you sleeping." He showed her a piece of paper with a big green 92 on the top. Izumi recognized it as last week's American History Quiz. "You got the highest mark in the class again." He congratulated her.

Izumi blinked again and took the quiz from him. "Wow." She smiled modestly. "Well I'm sure everyone else did good too." She looked at Ryo. He was exactly the way she had seen him before falling asleep. She shook her head and dismissed the thoughts of her past nightmares. 'I must've just had too much birthday cake.' she thought.

Ryo shrugged. "Well I didn't." He admitted. He showed her his own quiz. He had been awarded with a big red 39 and a small remark from the teacher. He sighed. "I really suck at school."

Izumi stood and took his quiz from him. She scanned it quickly. "Um ... Ryo did you study at all for this?"

Ryo shook his head. "Nope. But I did study for today's science test."

"Good." Izumi replied. She laughed and gave it back to him. "What do you think your parents will say? You're officially failing everything but P.E."

Ryo stuck his tongue out. "Oh shut up." He laughed. "Come on, we should get going. The lunch line must be a mile long by now."

Izumi nodded, gathered up her books and walked out to her lockers with him. 'It was just a bad dream." She reassured herself again.

The two teenage friends walked side by side down the white sidewalk. Nothing had been said since they left school. And it was odd for Izumi to be this quiet. Usually, she was nattering on about how she saw her crush in English or how nervous she was about her results on a test; even though, she aced all of the one so far. Ryo noticed how quiet she was being.

'I wonder if They've started yet?' Ryo thought to himself. 'It seems to early to tell her now. The prophecies are correct though, she is the one. But I don't want Izumi to have such a changed life— the one she wished for.' Ryo watched Izumi as they walked. 'I don't want to do this.' he thought. 'There must be someway I can stall her wished fate.'

Izumi stopped at the end of her paved driveway. there was no cars in the drive way, so everyone must've been at work. She lived with her parents and grandmother. She was an only child. Her father ran a little electronics store that did well and her mother was an ER nurse. Her grandma volunteered most of her time and the local Help-Centre. So Izumi was home alone a lot of the time.

The girl looked at Ryo. "Well, bye bye." She said. "Thanks for walking me home."

"No problem." Ryo replied. "Um, Izumi?"

"Yeah?" She said.

"Is anything wrong?"

Izumi looked at him strangely and then laughed. "No, no. I'm fine Ryo. Don't worry about me. I'm just ... tired from being up late studying."

"Ok." Ryo stepped forward to hug her and then decided against it. "So I'll see you later then." He started walking and waved to her.

Izumi waved back. "Bye Ryo!" She called after him and then walked to her house.

Ryo waved for another minute and then continued walking to his house— or so Izumi thought.

The teenage boy walked for a long while. He walked out of the sub-urban residential area of the city where Izumi lived; to the bustling main streets of downtown. Ryo walked until he found an alley. It looked just like any other dirty alley, with graffiti decor and a metal dumpster overflowing with rotting garbage.

Ryo walked to the very end of the narrow alley. At the end of small path dividing two lost-cost apartments, there was more graffiti— or at least that was what it looked like. A painted seal was the only thing marring the red brick, a round circle covered with odd symbols and a hidden meaning.

Ryo put his hand in the centre of the circle, there was a black hand print that almost matched his perfectly. He checked behind him for a moment and then started chanting words. He kept his hand rooted to the print and closed his eyes, chanting still. The unknown words became stronger and the brick and paint seal opened into a white portal. The boy stepped back, checked over his shoulder again and then walked through the white portal. It closed up behind him, and the painted seal was gone too.

Author's Note:

So there is the end of chapter one. It is actually a lot different then the original. The next chapter will be posted soon. :)

I hope you enjoy it. You can always contact me through email or leave a comment/review.

— Morbid-scribbles ... www.morbidscribbles.tk