Prelude

Prelude

RYUU

“You planning on picking yourself up? For the seventeenth time today?” he said, while I laid writhing on the floor. “Come on now, get up. We don’t have all d—”

“Shut Up!” I replied, wobbling to my feet, more tired than pissed. 

“Oh?” he tilted his head in shock. 

“This was supposed to be a sparring lesson. You’re supposed to be helping me.” My breaths were beginning to get louder. “Instead, you’ve been tossing and throwing me around for the past hour. You’re trying to—”

*WHOOSH*

Without warning, he sprinted towards me with the most devilish expression on his face. His arm swung so far back, he left no opening to dodge or duck underneath it. Only thing I could do, was brace for impact.

*POWW*

*THUD*

“Watch that loud little mouth of yours now” his 6’3 frame towered over me while I winced on the ground. “We’re not mates.” 

“You’re twenty-four, shamelessly whooping a nineteen-year-old’s ass. You want an award for th—”

*SQUASH*

He planted his foot right on my bruised face. 

“You asked for this remember? You’re the one looking for breaking point.” 

He didn’t take his feet off till he was satisfied. 

“So, you wanna land a real punch this time, or you’re just gonna keep eating mine like an idiot?”

This Lunatic was driving me crazy. Why couldn’t I just pummel him on the spot right now. 

Why was… Why was I so weak?

I picked myself off the floor when he’d walked far enough, and after taking a deep breath, I stilled myself. “Arakus” I muttered.

“Hmm?” He perked up with enthusiasm. “Are you sure you’ve hit—”

*ZOOM*

I darted towards him with an inhumane pace of my own.

That was really the only perk I actually had right now. I wasn’t special like the rest. Not the strongest, smartest, or even the fastest. I was almost twenty and I still hadn’t conjured my dragon, Arakus.

That was the whole bloody point of this dumbass training in the first place. But it’d only turned out to be a proper ass-whooping. I became more aware of my pitiful predicament while I charged towards him with intense rage. 

WHY AM I SO WEAK? 

ENOUGH! 

Enough belittling, mockery, and ill-luck. 

I will be the strongest of them all. 

I will become the strongest Dragon Conjura to ever live. 

Millimeters away from rocking my brother with an uppercut, I screamed at the top of my lungs… 

“Arakus… Rise!”

*SWATT*

“Huh?”

My brother held my fists like they were weightless, and stared me deep in the eyes before he let the words trickle down his mouth. 

“You’re not good enough.”

It might not have been what he meant, maybe not even what he said. But that was what I heard. 

*POWWWW*

His fist connected with so much force, I soared through the air for a couple seconds, before clattering down to the rock-coated ground.

Ah yes… after all this pain and pseudo-grit, I was still nothing. 

I was still useless. 

*THUD*

“You sure you wanna keep trying?” I heard him speak up. “You might end up killing yourself.”

“Why am I so useless?” I muttered. This was the worst possible time to cry, but my eyes began to water, and Adachi noticed.

“You’re doing all this because of what dad said right? You let the old man get into your head once more. Still trying to prove something to him?”

To this question, I was silent.

“Hmphhh, I’ll give to you though” he spoke up after a couple seconds of tense silence. “You’ve got—”

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare pity me.” 

I dragged myself off the floor and made sure I looked him in the eyes. “Yes, I know what you want to say. Don’t give me that pity speech. Say it as it is!” I screamed in anger. “So what if I’m weak? So what if I still can’t conjure my dragon? I will not be—”

*SLAT*

I’ll never forget that sound, or the feeling that followed soon after. I thought I was in the middle of a character-defining moment… my moment. But that very second was the beginning of my hell.

I saw the silver blade of a katana push right through my brother’s heart. What… what the hell?

“Ad-achi?”

The moment I called out his name, trying to walk closer to him, the katana pushed even further through, and balls of blood dribbled out of his mouth. 

“Oi Oi Oi” the strange voice called out in the silence. “All that strength just to die in less than a minute? I thought we'd agreed to make this fun.” An annoying chuckle soon followed. My line of vision widened, and I saw the culprit standing right behind my brother. His dark bangs slid underneath his striped blonde hair. The look of utter disdain that wreaked off his crimson-red eyes were fueled by the ironic smile etched across his scarred face. “Hi Ryuu”

*SLATTTTT*

He pulled out the katana as nonchalantly as he’d pushed it in, and right before my eyes, Adachi dropped down to the floor. What the—

“Let’s make this fun, shall we?” he cleaned my brother’s blood off his sword like it was the stain on a piece of white fabric.

“Adachi?”

My sorrow began to dowse and I felt fury pulse through my veins.

“I… I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

I sprinted towards him and swung for his ribs until I heard Adachi whisper,

“Phoenix… Wings”

*BLAZEEE*

A sizzling ball of fiery wings enclosed me almost immediately, and pulled me off the ground, and up to the sky. Huh? What was this? My gaze shifted, and I saw my brother take his last breath. I heard his lungs collapse, and when I looked back to the culprit, that same demonic smile was still plastered across his face. That day… 

I swore I’d kill him. 

Adachi’s head clattered to the ground, and as k rose a couple meters up to the sky, my mind fogged up.

That’s the last thing I remember...

...before this...

...before here...

New York, U.S.A… Earth. 

It’s been six months. 

I don’t know why I’m here, and I don’t know how I got here. 

Only one thing is for sure…