Chapter One

'Ow...'

Halo flew through the air, landing on the dirty ground a few feet away from his predator. The menacing creature had a scowl on its face as it stalked towards him, black fur blowing in the wind while the bloodthirsty animal unsheathed its claws...

"Halo, you moron!"

Sierra grabbed him by his ear, pulling at Halo until he stood up.

"Ow, Sierra, that hurts!"Halo complained, a whine rising in his voice as he rubbed the part of his head that had hit the ground.

"You are going to pay up, Halo! Every last penny. That was my favorite bracelet! I can't believe you just destroyed it."

Sierra pointed a stubborn finger towards the ground, where a white-gold bracelet laid in pieces. It had clearly been very expensive. That wasn't very surprising, though. After all, she was the mayor's daughter.

"But...I don't have any money..."Confusion flooded his gaze, pure innocence in his voice as he continued. "Besides,you threw it at me and hit my shoulder. Then you stepped on it on your way over here..."He shook his head, messy white hair falling just above his eyes. "There are other ways to get my attention, you know, you don't have to be so abusive to me."

"I don't care."Sierra removed her hand from his ear and put both hands on her hips. "You didn't say anything, and I've never done anything wrong before. So of course, this is all yourfault."

Halo just sighed at his friend's logic. Of courseSierra could do nothing wrong. She was just an all-knowing person in general. 'Yeah, right...'he suppressed his laughter, though the corner of his mouth twitched suspiciously.

"I heard that."Sierra glared at Halo with her deep purple eyes, causing him to blink in surprise; sometimes he forgot about her telepathic abilities. It wasn't exactly uncommon for people in this town to have special powers, but it wasn't too common, either. Again, she was the mayor's daughter. It was not surprising to anyone that she was able to do the things that she could.

"No fair! You don't usually use your weird stuff,"Halo complained, his eyes wide.

"So what?"she shrugged, not bothered by guilt in the least, or by the fact that Halo had phrased it as 'weird stuff'. "You looked like you were thinking about something interesting, so I took a look into your mind. Big deal."

Before he could reply, he felt pressure on his shoulders, and an odd bundle of cheerfulness leaped past him to stand next to Sierra.

Rosie was Sierra's identical twin. They both had black, shiny hair that fell to their shoulders, and the same purple eyes. Sierra's skin, on one hand, was a very light tan, while Rosie had a slight pink complexion to her. So if you looked carefully, it wasn't too hard to tell the two apart... Of course, it was already easy enough if you could see the difference in the two girls' personality.

Predictably, Sierra turned on her sister, glaring daggers. "Go away!"she snapped, as Halo looked around frantically, looking for the source of his confusion. Finally, he received sight of Rosie, and started to listen to their conversation.

'Sierra must be in a bad mood today or something... then again, she always acts like this.'Halo thought, cocking his head at the two. When you first met them, it was hard not to consider them a pair, rather than two individuals. Of course, the people that met them at a glance obviously didn't know very much about the two.

"Hey!"Sierra snapped again, this time at Halo. After a few seconds of silence, he realized that she must have been listening to his thoughts again. "Sorry."He tossed her a small smile, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Either she didn't think too much of it or she didn't really care, because her head whipped back around to confront Rosie, eyes narrowed. "Go away."she repeated firmly. The bracelet was forgotten... for now.

"But... Sierra..."she said quietly, eyes round. Her personality was almost as innocent as Halo's was. The only difference between the two was that Rosie usually bowed to Sierra's every will, while Halo did not.

"No. Leave now!"Her voice was a bit crosser this time, merciless towards her sister.

"C'mon Sierra, just let her stay. I'm friends with her too. "Halo butted in with a gentle reminder.

"So? That doesn't mean she can just but into my conversations likeyoujust did."

"I didn't mean to!"Rosie piped up, defending herself for once. "I wasn't sure if you guys were talking or not."

"Liar. How could you not notice that we were talking?"she rolled her eyes.

"Can't you guys just... not argue, for once?"Halo pleaded. He couldn't help but admit to himself that every single time Rosie showed up when Sierra was around, the two got into an argument.

"No. Not until she leaves."Sierra was as stubborn as ever.

"It's fine. She can stay; we can all hang out together, we hardly ever do that."For some odd reason, the black-haired girl never let Rosie around him while she was. Oh well, no point in thinking too much about it.

"Don't tell me what to do!"Her expression was starting to morph into something angry. "Fine, Rosie, you can stay. I don't care."

Halo sighed in relief. It was finally over... Maybe the two sisters would actually learn to get along some day. Unfortunately 'some day' was not now.

"But Sierra, you never really gave me a chance to explain. Dad wants you. Now. He looked pretty angry, I wouldn't keep him waiting for too long."Rosie took one or two steps back. Sierra was often known for shooting the messenger.

For some reason, Sierra didn't take it out on Rosie this time."...Fine. Halo, I've got to go. I'll see you later."Without another word, she grabbed Rosie's arm and started to walk down the dirt road, towards her home

Halo watched them go until they melted in with the crowd, a disappointed gleam in his eyes. He grimaced for a moment, wondering what Sierra could have possibly done to upset her father thistime. With a shrug, he turned and walked in the opposite direction that they did.

Whistling a tune, Halo shoved his hands into his jacket pockets for no apparent reason. He sidestepped a small boy, who was running from something.

"Hey, you! Stop that thief!"

One of the many shopkeepers on the side of the road pointed at Halo. "What are you doing? Stop that boy! He just stole a precious apple from my stand!"He glared at Halo, as if it was his fault that the small child had gotten away.

'Shoplifting around here is getting a lot worse.'Halo sighed, narrowing his eyes at the shopkeeper. People were getting desperate these days, some just struggling to get by. Like the wild-haired boy. It was all that Halo could do to help out whenever these things happened, even when he was struggling financially himself.

Halo walked up to the wooden stand, resisting the urge to hit his forehead with the palm of his head. He removed his wallet from his pocket. "How much was the apple?"he said, looking at the shopkeeper -or should I say, standkeeper- expectantly.

"Two gold pieces."Greed shone in the man's eyes as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
'What? That's a rip-off! I wouldn't be able to eat for a month if I gave him that kind of money for an apple.'

"I'll give you a copper piece for it."Halo said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Twocopper pieces, and we've got a deal."Halo tossed the creepy-looking shopkeeper the two pieces, not wanting to barter about it anymore. Hopefully he would leave the little boy alone now.

Halo just let his feet walk for him, his mind wandering. He didn't really know where he was going, nor did he really care that much. He wasn't in the mood to go home quite yet. The sun was starting to set in the sky, casting a beautiful orange light across the town below. The light even twisted through the trees of the forest... wait a second, the forest?

Halo paused, realizing that he had gone all the way to the edge of town. What had drawn him here...? It often times felt a bit claustrophobic around here, but the town wasn't thatsmall. Actually, there was plenty of room, and you would never really know that the town was small if you stayed within its walls. Halo hadn't even really recalled walking through the gateway, but apparently he had. Well... I guess that's what happens when you let Halo of all people wander around aimlessly. The breeze brushed against Halo's face quietly, causing him to lean in a bit closer towards the trees.

The forest was not silent. Screams sounded in the distance, none of them human. Simply because nothing in there could everbe human, except for the few people in their village who could enter and exit the forest as they pleased. However, as long as there was a person who couldn't go in the forest with a person who could, that person who could not go in would be protected for exactly forty-eight hours. Halo had actually watched as some random person off of the streets had headed towards the forest as if they planned on leaving, only to be burned alive as they took their first step out of the Forgotten City. Besides, even if you couldget in, there was no guarantee that you would survive the menace of the bloodthirsty creatures that lived in there.

So there he stood, just outside of the forest; staring at the trees as though he thought that they were about to explode or something. But of course, he didn't dare try to go in. It really wasn't worth the risk of... well, of whatever that would happen if he tried to go inside, even if the curiosity was killing him.

"Intriguing,"Halo murmured, narrowing his yellow-green eyes thoughtfully. Really, he was a lot more intelligent than he let on. "I wonder..."The bottom line was, the forest was dangerous, and any attempt to venture out of the city's boundaries should be avoided at any cost.

A twig snapped exactly three inches behind him. Halo turned, eyes widened slightly, to see another boy his age staring at him. "Kazuhiko!"His eyes brightened momentarily, and he grinned.

"...Halo, you know that I don't like seeing you so close to the forest..."Kazuhiko, Kazu for short, brushed his tinted-blue hair out of his eyes carelessly. "One of these days, you're going to trip and fall. Then, while you scream in agony because of the flames lapping at your body, I'm just going to say 'I told you so'.

Wincing at the thought, he replied, "Oh, come on, Kazu. You worry too much. I'm always careful..."He purposely didn't mention that he had stepped into a rabbit's burrow only a week ago, causing him to trip and fall centimeters away from the invisible border of the forest. "Careful enough, anyways."

The careless expression on the black-haired man -the base of his hair is black, but tinted blue- shifted into an angry scowl as Halo spoke. "Careful? I beg to differ. Last time I found you here, you were reaching for a butterpede, which was well beyond the border."

True, Halo had been quite careless at the time, and now he wanted a change of subject.

"Enough about me, Kazu. What are you doing here, anyways?"

For a moment, Kazu looked a bit sheepish. Then, he hesitantly replied, "...Master lost his pet bullfrog around this area... and he sent me to come and find it."

Halo had to cover his mouth with the back of his hand to stifle his laughter, and he tried to pass it off as him just wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 'A bullfrog... Such a large beast..'The animal was as big as a horse, but with more muscle. The brawn and body of a bull, accompanied by the rough, bumpy skin and outrageously long tongue of a frog. Don't forget the craving for insects... A bullfrog was a strong creature, but it had the brains of a two-year-old. Simply a chore for a skilled fighter like Kazu...

He obviously didn't fall for it. Eyes like daggers, Kazu replied, "Well, it needs to be done, and I was the only one available at the time."He let his hair cover the top of his eyes as he added, "...He also said he wanted me to learn a little more about humility."

Halo grinned; though Kazuhiko was generally a silent person, the way he fought screamed his... well, what some people would call 'cockiness', to the world. His master was probably just trying to reassure some of the citizens. What else could he expect? This was a small town.

Kazuhiko had trained for many years, and it showed. He wasn't buff, but he had a bit more muscle than average. His hair was naturally messy-looking, and framed his face pretty well. His shirt was black, not quite skin-tight, but not anywhere close to being baggy. The sleeves of his shirt were torn off. Also, his pants were black to match his shirt, and they were more formal than they were casual. For some reason, if a female was attracted to him, they would come in their little 'cliques', simply because he had such a dark look to him. Hey, high school was still high school, even in this strange place. Of course there were cliques. Though the two boys were around the same age -seventeen, their birthdays were two or three months apart- Kazu was just a bit more firmly developed than Halo was.

"That's rough, buddy."Halo patted the all-too-silent Kazu on the back. "Good luck. Those bullfrogs can be quite gruesome."

Kazu just nodded. "I've got to start now. That thing could be anywhere."With a sigh, he turned around and started to walk around the perimeter of the forest, removing his staff from the sheath on his back as he went, shouting something that sounded like "Stay out of the forest!"over his shoulder.

After Halo finished waving good-bye, he turned again to face the forest. As hard as he tried, he couldn't tell himself that the forest didn't interest him, daring him to push his way through the bushes that poked around the edge of the invisible boundary. He turned away, feeling as though the branches of the pine trees were clawing at him, pulling him backwards, into the depths of their shadows. It wasn't too long before another bloodcurdling scream rang through the trees, echoing through his heart as it did the forest.