Two girls who looked alike walked down the school's hall, their eyes blue and hair a beautiful and pure white, their faces wore proud smiles their arms clutching their books close to their chest. One of them had their hair up into a pony tail an amulet representing a heart pinned in her hair, the other had her's draping down her back. Her demeanor calm a stark contrast to the bubbly demeanor of the one next to her.
'Hey!' Someone called out to them, their heads raised at the sound, stopping in their tracks to look behind them, seeing a boy with fiery red hair and goggles running after the two girls with a huge innocent smile and wave.
'Hey.' the girl with the ponytail waved back at him trying to match his energy. Her smile just as wide as his as he approached.
'Who're you.' The other girl murmured by her side, causing Kaluar to stiffen from her cold voice, stopping in his tracks as he introduced himself.
'I'm Kaluar nice to meet you both.' He announced.
'Oh! You're that new kid!' the pony tailed girl grinned at her perception, looking at the other girl and rest her hand on her shoulder.
'I'm Jinkou and this gloomy girl near me is Tekina!' She announced, wrapping her arm around Tekina, pulling her in for a one armed hug causing her to almost drop her books. 'We're siblings.'
'Do you need something?' Tekina asked, straightening her self and pulling away from Jinko's embrace, a look of confusion mixed with concern on her face.
'Oh! Right! I was wondering if you'd like to join me for the expedition!' He grinned, his hand on his hips in full blown confidence. The two girls look at each other, both flashing a face of confusion before looking at him, Tekina with a slight frown and Jinkou with a smile.
'Sure why not.' Both of them responded.
Kaluar's grin slowly faded, his eyebrows furrowing over his eyes. 'uhh, sorry but only one of you can join.'
'Oh, then we wont, sorry.' Jinkou refused, a soft smile still on her face, gentle and lively.
'We're not separating so you'll have to find someone else.' Tekina agreed, turning to walk away, Jinkou soon followed as they both left Kaluar behind.
'Well, onto the next person...' Kaluar murmured, letting out a sigh of frustration before looking around the hallway for more potential partners, coming across a lad with hair just like his, with red eyes to match and a determined look about him.
'Hey! Want to join our team?' Kaluar called out with a smile.
The boy stopped and looked at the young elf, a smile soon forming on his face as he gave him his full attention, turning to Kaluar.
'Yeah! I'd join!' He announced, stretching his arm out before our hero.
'I'm Kai, nice to meet you.' Kaluar stared at Kai's hand for a while before taking it himself, slowly shaking it with a smile.
'I'm Kaluar.' he introduced, soon retracting his hand from the handshake.
'Do you have another teammate?' Kai pondered.
'Yeah actually.' Kaluar grinned.
'who is it?'
'Mirai.' The boy looked rather hesitant at Kaluar's claim, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. Stepping away from the young elf.
'On second thought, i just remembered! Uh Kako invited me to her's i need to get going.' And with that he too left, Kaluar now in a deeper state of confusion.
'What's going on...' He muttered to himself.
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'Everyone turned you down?' Mirai sighed as they sat over lunch. The halls bustled with busy students enjoying their meals before the next class.
'Well almost everyone.' Kaluar murmured, a bit down from the recent events, his head planted on the desk as he idly moves his food with his fork.
'Some of them even bailed when i mentioned your name.' His eyes panned over to Mirai, slight irritation in his voice, pointing the fork at him. 'So spill, what happened?'
Mirai sighed, his hand running through his hair with a look that seemed like frustration or fatigue, he gritted his teeth lightly, he knew this question would come up the best he could've done was hope it didn't
With a sigh of defeat, he looked at Kaluar, his mouth opened slightly to reveal the truth.
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'Raise your head high, claim the stars if you have to.' A voice echoed within the dark depths of Mirai's mind, the deep and energetic voice of his father, his gray hair did in a buzz cut, his slim face unkept, giving a rough yet still attractive look.
'Why?' Mirai pondered, his child self standing near his father one last time, a picture painted within his mind. Standing over the horizon looking at the longing night sky. The stars twinkling over the two as they gazed upon them.
'Because we're human.' He explained, his rough face graced with a smile.
'compared to most, we have one of the shortest life spans in Elvendoria. That's why, we must see the world and take in it's beauty while we can.' He turned to his child, the moon's light blessed the world of Elvendoria, it's beauty beyond words, the stars though plentiful, pales in comparison.
'Don't you agree?' he grins, Mirai nodding with a smile at his question.
'Say-' He inquired, his eyes widened slightly as he recalled something his son said from the past.
'Didn't you say you wanted to become a ruin hunter?' Mirai nodded at his question, the wind blowing through thier hair eveer so slightly.
'Well, if you keep up your dreams you'll see things that even I haven't, a whole new domain, separate from Eldoria yet still one and the same.' He pats the head of his son, whose little hands wrapped around his as he moved his hand through his gray hair.
'So what do you say, kiddo? You're gonna follow your dreams and quench your curiosity and thirst for adventure, or will you abide by the laws forced on us and die with regret?'
Mirai as lost in thought, looking up to the sky his eyes sparkling with the beauty of the moon, the feeling of his breath being drawn in awe, the way his heart beats to see something so beautiful. If it means he can continue to have this feeling then...
'I'm..' He managed to mutter, his eyes never leaving the moon. His lips slowly parted to finish his sentence. 'I'm going to follow my dreams!'
His father smiled, ruffling his hair even more, his strands peeking through his huge fingers.
'Atta boy!' he praised, his grin painted on his face never to leave. 'Just remember, whatever you do, do it with your own power.'
Mirai nods, a smile adorned his face as they shared this moment together, under the beautiful gaze of the moon.
'You're going to make this old man, very proud.'
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Mirai fell to the ground, his hands grazed by the granite roads of Anvile town, looking up to his attackers with hatred in his eyes. Two boys towered over him, both of them around his age, their knuckles cracking as they stared down at mirai with huge toothy grins.
'For someone with no mana you talk alot.' A boy commented, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. His curly brown hair barely hanging over his silver gaze. Freckles adorning his face as he spoke with the boy.
'People like you will never become ruin hunters.' Mirai said through gritted teeth, glaring back at the boy that held him by the collar.
'Is that a fact.' Mirai's words struck a nerve within him, raising his hand to form a fist ignited in flame. Mirai flinched, tears welling his eyes at the mere thought of being hit with the flame.
'Haha, look he's crying!' one of the boys announced with a snicker, his bladk hair draped over his chubby cheeks and green eyes.
Mirai continued to tear up, gritting his teeth in an attempt to keep the tears in but it was no use.
'Hey!' someone shouted in the distance, their black hair and dark ocean blue eyes the first thing one could think to describe, a red X nestling under his right. "What are you doing?!"
'Oh crap it's Kurai!' One of them shouted and all of them backed away as he got closer, letting go of Mirai's hand, 'Let's get out of here!'
They ran, not looking back, Kurai standing by Mirai's side.
'You alright?' Kurai asked, helping Mirai stand, tears still dwelled in his eyes as he was assisted by the sting on his hand still there.
'Yeah, for the most part.' He managed to mutter, holding his burnt wrist, the pain still lingering around the wounds.
'You sure?' Kurai asked, looking at him with a hint of concern.
'Yeah, my father can heal me, his healing magic is-' A huge boom sent shock waves through the streets of Prospera, dust flew to them, both of them knocked off of their feet as they stared in the direction of the noise.
'Was that…' Kurai's voice trailed off not wanting to finish his speculation, but Mirai ran ahead anyway.
He chased after the boy as he ran checking to see what had happened, the explosion was near their house, and a crowd had already formed outside of their destroyed building.
They both swiftly squeezed through the crowd popping their heads out to see what was going on, their faces riddled with disbelief at the sight, Mirai's father was rendered unconscious, his body escorted by two great mages, one of them with short white hair and three dots under his golden eyes, the other with dark blue hair and brown eyes with for dots under his.
They both wore robes similar to that of priests, using their magic to carry Mirai's father by levitation.
'Dad!' Mirai shouted, reaching out for his unconscious dad, only to be stopped by one of the privileged residents, their gaze soft, shaking their head with a hint of regret, more so to him and not to his father.
Mirai watched on, his heart aching with what his father would have possibly done to deserve this.
'It was then I realized that humans are controlled everywhere, even in their own homes,' Mirai muttered to Kaluar at the lunch table we had left them before. 'Apparently my father has been caught trading spells humans should never have, all to keep us on the privileged side of Prospera and keep me in this school for so long.'
'I only made it this far from my grades, all my practical skills are lacking and I can't do tinkering for the life of me haha.' Mirai's smile soon faded, 'So yeah, I have no magic, I suck at tinkering, and my father was a highly wanted criminal in the black market.'
'Not surprising many people don't want to team up with me,'
Kaluar looked at him, his eyebrows furrowing in concern, he didn't know what to say at the time.
'But hey I got the rune now, so that first problem is as good as solved right?' Mirai smiled at him letting him know that everything was ok, that he didn't have to feel bad, but that didn't really stop those emotions.
'Right!' Kaluar gave a soft smile back.
'Hey,' A familiar voice muttered, Kaluar's ears pricked up at the sound, when he turned he saw Kurai as he stood by their desk.
'I want to join your expedition team,' He announced his words leaving Kaluar in shock.
'Oh, you?' Mirai muttered, a bit put off by the announcement.
'Got a problem?'
Kurai's cold gaze turned to Mirai, their glare unwavering towards one another as they stood in silence, the air thickening with tension.