When I was a child, my parents told me many stories, among them there was one that I liked very much. It is a story that happened long ago when a young dragon named Ryuga wanted to experience human life by becoming one, which led him to have good friendships with them and even fell in love and left his life as a dragon behind. However, this would bring consequences as his parents Ryu and Amaru would be confused believing that their son had been deceived.
His parents' anger would cause chaos and death in a quest to get their son back, but Ryuga took action, even knowing he could never defeat his father. He confronted and deceived them, killed his mother and sealed his father to restore peace, or at least this is what the fictional story tells.
I
Villa Nevada, 7:00 PM, 2007
In a city where it never stopped snowing, a boy, about 7 years old, was standing in front of a statue. He looked up and curiously read the scanty description on the plaque.
"Oh! So, this is the statue of the first hero, and it says... "I will set you free when we meet again, I will...", Mmm it is incomplete."
A girl of the same age, with blue eyes, long red hair, ran up to him and slipped and dropped an ornament in the shape of a snowflake that she was wearing in her hair. However, the boy prevented her from falling, picked up the ornament and gave it back to her saying:
"You should be more careful, the floor is frosted."
"I'm sorry, thank you for picking up my snowy star," said the girl shyly.
"It's okay, but that's not a snow star, it's a snowflake," replied the boy with an unpleasant tone.
"But I like to call it a snow star," said the girl with puffy cheeks.
"Well, maybe that's a nice way to call it. By the way, what's your name?"
"My name is Scarlet and what's yours?"
"I'm... I'm..."
II
10 years later, Villa Nevada, 7:37 AM, 2017.
In a normal 17-year-old boy's room sat Kaito. A student who was a fan of fantasy to the point that it could be annoying, of course he was aware of it. His room was filled with anime posters and figurines, video games and instruments and some light novels. Of course, on his computer screens there was a MMORPG video game on the login menu and a beautiful anime girl on the other monitor.
"Fairy tales are really something different," he said while he was reading a book he had in his hands, leaning back on his bed.
The boy was 1.77 meters tall and weighed 57 kilos. He was not especially tall, but very thin, his skin was dark brown, his eyes were black, and his hair was long and frayed at the ends.
"The origin of the first hero..." What a good story," he declared as he stretched both arms towards the ceiling and added," these tales do manage to take me to another world."
He described himself as physically weak, lazy and overly arrogant. Or at least he fervently believed in his self-assessment.
"Well, what do I do now?" He asked himself, putting down the book, "Maybe I could read another one."
The young man had a large collection of fantastic stories, among them was a compilation book of fairy tales that especially fascinated him, and he picked it up.
"It's your turn to kill my time," he said, looking at the book just before the alarm went off.
If there was one thing that stood out as an "accomplishment" it was being able to maintain good grades without the need to attend classes.
Without realizing it, both 18 and college were closer than he thought and even he had no idea of his future. This was proof that his self-assessment was correct, the boy lacked any kind of ambition.
"It's seven forty, I stayed up all night again!" He thought to himself, "Why did I set the alarm to go off so late?"
The completely disheveled young man sat up in bed staring at the ceiling after having turned off the alarm clock.
"Now the question of every morning, I'm really on time, so, am I going to class or not?" He asked himself, closing his eyes and answered immediately. "No, not today... Now that I think about it, how many days in a row will I be like this?"
The young man got dressed anyway, but not to go to school.
"I think I'll go buy something to eat while reading, on the way maybe I'll find a motivation to go back to class," he said looking at the window where he could see the snow falling.
The boy went down to the second floor of his house to say goodbye to his mother. She was young, slim, with long, light brown hair, and very pretty. The only resemblance between them was their eyes.
"Are you leaving Kaito?" asked his mother.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?" asked his mother in confusion.
"I mean yes, I'm leaving."
"You're going to class, aren't you?"
"That's what I meant by maybe," he said, with barely glancing at her and added," I'll just go buy something and study here at home."
She stared at her son with a clear feeling of concern. However, he had a great talent to provoke such sleeplessness in his mother and not perceive it.
"Aren't you going to say anything?"
"Why don't you leave that scarf for me to wash? You wear it every day," asked his mother, stretching out her hand for him to give it to her.
The young man was silent for a moment, thinking: "You might get a little angry with me."
"No, thank you. Remember that you already washed it yesterday. Besides, it's my favorite because you gave it to me, that's why I don't stop wearing it. I've told you that before."
"Yesterday? "Really? I don't remember, but I do remember when you were little you used it to play hero with Scarlet," she said laughing while covering her mouth with one of her hands.
"You know I'm fascinated by those stories, but I don't like you always reminding me about it."
"There's nothing wrong with believing and continuing to fantasize."
"I know."
"You should leave now, be careful on the way, don't trust me."
"You always say the same thing, I'll be fine, I'll be fine," she said with her eyes closed and her head tilted a little to one side.
"You always sound so confident, but someone who is going to be fine doesn't say "I'm going to be fine" twice."
"Are you lecturing me?" asked the boy, tilting his head to the other side.
"I just don't want you to trip. The last thing a mother wants is to see her son fall," replied the mother, comically imitating her son's movements.
The mother's act would bring a slight smile to Kaito's face, which gave him a little more motivation and energy.
"I'm leaving," said the boy, keeping his smile and looking his mother in the eyes.
"Take care of yourself son."
Before leaving the boy thought "that's right if I'm going shopping, I'm going to take my backpack". He took the backpack that was near the entrance, he noticed that it was a bit heavy.
Kaito left his house and walked down the path he always took to the market, which also led to the school. On the way, thanks to his great eyesight, from afar he could see an already grown Scarlet who was also his companion and, despite how far away she was, he could notice that from her hair fell "the snowy star" that she always wore since he met her. The boy tried to get her attention, but she didn't notice and carried on her way. He reached the place where the ornament fell and picked it up.
How absent-minded she is! I'll give it back to her before the bell rings. To think that we've been friends since childhood, but we hardly talk these days," he said a bit wistfully looking at Scarlet's 'snowy star' and wondered," If I talked to her again, could I go to class normally?
Just then, Kaito realized he was standing in front of the statue of the so-called "hero", although little is known about who he was or what he did. Many related him to the legend of the dragon hero Ryuga. However, he thought he had no link to that story.
Kaito always had these questions: Why is there no record of when this statue was carved, or at least who made it?
He was struck by its form. It showed a young man kneeling and unrecognizable, due to the passage of time, carrying a young woman as if she were a princess. The latter had an ornament in her hair that was the same "snowy star" that Scarlet wore in her hair, since they sold them as a souvenir for tourists.
"This statue is so rare, it looks so natural and now that I think about it, I have never touched it, although I don't know why I would," Kaito was talking to himself, as he brought his hand towards it.
The moment he touched it he felt a current that gave him a little scare, but without giving it more importance, he left running to school because it was already quite late.
III
The young man arrived at the entrance, seconds before the bell rang. Somewhat agitated and with his eyes on the ground, as the pain caused by the current in his left arm would become more and more intense "Why would it hurt so much?" he wondered. Even so, he still didn't give it any importance, there was something else to prioritize.
The boy looked up and noticed the large number of students there, people he knew and others he had never seen, which gave him a certain feeling.
"It's true... It's not just Scarlet, even if I were to talk to her again," the boy whispered and continued." There's a lot more to it than that in the background."
His gaze had turned to resentment, hatred, contempt, at everything that was in front of his eyes.
"This place is full of hypocrites," he thought with great anger in his eyes.
At that moment the best idea he had was to simply leave, however, just a few meters ahead he could visualize Scarlet's reddish hair and remembered what he had gone for.
"That's right... Her star…"
At the sound of the bells, Kaito instantly walked to catch Scarlet's attention from the school gate.
"Scar..." he said without being able to finish.
At the sound of the boy's voice, the young girl turned her gaze, not quite turning around. Kaito couldn't see her eyes because they were covered by her hair and he only managed to see her lips.
Then, time stopped, everyone was static, even him. Of the sound of the bell only the echo remained, it seemed that Kaito was the only one aware of it. However, he could only move his eyes, feel the snow falling on him and see that the others were motionless.
He was afraid, if it wasn't because he was frozen, he would surely be sweating, and his anxiety would increase as he saw that everything began to darken little by little. While that was happening the young man was shocked to see that behind Scarlet there was something that looked like a dark specter embracing her. Terrified and flooded with despair, he felt his heartbeat thudding as if he was going to die. I want this to end," he thought in horror.
Suddenly, as he closed his eyes, the palpitations disappeared and slowly as he opened his eyes, he realized he was in another place, where he could move.
"What happened, where am I, where are the others, where is Scarlet?" Kaito asked himself confused and agitated.
However, when he looked around he only saw two strangers that he could not distinguish.
"How are you feeling?" asked the strangers with concern.
At that precise moment, Kaito felt that he was beginning to faint.
"Hey, are you all right? What's wrong with you?" asked a female voice...