Tales of Lost Tibes [PG-13] [Chapters 1-3]

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Tales of Lost Tribes[/size]

Information (preface)

Tribe of Eternal Light-
Population: ****
Number of Villages: 1 major city
Average Village Size: *****
Average Magic Usage: ***
Average Number of Elders-That-Watch per family: 1
Current Ruler: King Buoyant
Current Ruler’s Wife: Queen Radiance
Current Son(s)/Daughter(s) of Ruler: Princess Grace
Tribe Symbol: Diamond

Tribe of Infinite Darkness-
Population: *****
Number of Villages: 38
Average Village Size: *****
Average Magic Usage: ****
Average Number of Elders-That-Watch per family: 3
Current Ruler: King Dabuto
Current Ruler’s Wife: none.
Current Son(s)/Daughter(s) of Ruler: Prince Kabotu
Tribe Symbol: Dark Ruby

Tribe of Rolling Waves-
Population: **
Number of Villages: 4
Average Village Size: *
Average Magic Usage: *
Average Number of Elders-That-Watch per family: 1
Current Ruler: Chief Scott
Current Ruler’s Wife: Scarlet
Current Son(s)/Daughter(s) of Ruler: Umiko
Tribe Symbol: Oyster Shell

Tribe of Falling Stone-
Population: ***
Number of Villages: 5
Average Village Size: **
Average Magic Usage: *
Average Number of Elders-That-Watch per family: 2
Current Ruler: Chief Jeremy
Current Ruler’s Wife: Granita
Current Son(s)/Daughter(s) of Ruler: Onyx (son) Mica (daughter)
Tribe Symbol: Cave Lilly

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Chapter 1

The morning sun began to rise over the distant mountains, flooding the beach in the bright morning light. Strokes of clouds were delicately painted across the pink sky. The beach was silent except for the infinite lapping of the waves against the shore. Few birds chirped at the forest border to the beaches, and some animals were howling a wake-up call from the mountains above.
Along the beach, clusters of tents and huts were dotted in four locations. The tents were brown with navy blue painted designs, pitched like a camping tent, only larger. On the other hand, the huts were round, made of bamboo with weaved grass roofs with an open doorway and floors made of packed sand. Next to them were small, wooden boxes filled with water that wrapped around the huts, with small little charms sitting on the edges. Between each hut was a small pool of water that streamed off into the ocean, and small bridges went over the top of each one. They also had small charms at their edge.
Stretching for miles, the beach was clean, with pure, white, thin sand that stretched hundreds of feet below ground. It only stretched about a hundred feet into the land, though, for the beach was shielded by an eight story cliff. The top of it was grassy, and it lead up into the mountains; the unsearched, undocumented territory in which no man had returned. The ends of the beach were bordered by sandy oak forests that traveled a few miles, then were broken off to open ocean.
The first movement of the was at the easternmost village, in the doorway of the smallest hut. It was all the way at the east end of the village, bordering the Eastern Woods.
A girl appeared in the doorway, yawning and stretching before grabbing a bucket next to the door. She had long, dark hair tied in pigtails that rested over her thin shoulders, with shells resting over where they were tied. She had short bangs that covered bright slate blue eyes and framed a young face. The girl wore a light blue pin-down jacket with a mandarin collar and medium sleeves that cuffed half way down the arm with green trim and lining, with khaki shorts underneath and bare feet. She looked about fourteen years of age, though was a tad on the short side.
As she headed towards the water box, she turned a hook on the charm, where she mumbled to herself, “Stream Charm…” and on the charm by the pool next to her, the beads that hung on strings stuck out straight. “Mer Pool,” she then muttered. Soon enough, water began to pour from a spout in the charm, filling the water box to the top. As she dipped the bucket into the water, a voice called to her.
“Reina! Good morning!”
Looking up, Reina saw a tall girl, her long brown hair down and her cerulean blue jacket unbuttoned, revealing a simple shirt underneath. She was Reina’s next-door neighbor, and had just come out to gather water herself.
“Yes, Nami, good morning!” the girl called back. “How is your brother?”
Nami smiled gently. “Getting better every day. Soon he’ll be back at full health. How is your Grandfather? Is be back yet?”
Dai, Reina’s grandfather and Elder-Who-Watches, had currently been away all the way in the Western Village on business. He was a doctor, and was commonly called away to the other villages of the Tribe to help patients. “My brother received a letter from him yesterday; he’s doing fine, and should be back next week!”
Speak of the devil, Reina’s brother appeared behind her in the doorway, stretching and saying to himself, “Ah, a good morning in the Tribe of Rolling Waves… Should be easy guarding today; the enemy wouldn’t dare come near us in this kind of weather.”
Nami’s eyes lit up, and she stood up from dipping her bucket in her water box. “Ryunosuke!! Good morning!” she called, blushing. Just as all the other girls from there to the Northern Village, Nami had a huge crush on Reina’s brother, Ryunosuke. He was incredibly tall and handsome, with a muscled build and an arrogant smile. He had perfectly-styled shaggy brown hair and shining blue eyes, and he wore the typical guard’s uniform, which consisted of straps across the chest and a finsword at the belt, with baggy pants that tucked into tight boots with armor strapped under his pants and on his arms. He was about four years older than the two girls. In addition to his looks, he was the youngest and best guard in the entire Tribe.
With his hands clasped casually behind his head, Ryunosuke looked over to Nami. “’Morning. You’re… uh… Amy right?” he had so many fangirls that he could hardly remember all of their names. Reina couldn’t help but chuckle as she squeezed by him to add the gathered water to the plumbing system. The water had to be replaced each morning in order to keep the pipes working. At least, that was what had to be done in that part of the village, for the Eastern Village was the poorest, where the Northern was the richest. As she dumped the water in, Reina overheard the continuation of their conversation.
“Nami! You were close though!”
“Oh… yeah, I knew that! Well, I’ll see you around,” he then turned into the door and called, “Reina, I’m going now. Don’t forget to go to the market; we’re out of food.”
“Mhm. Bye,” was Reina’s grunt of a reply. She then stood up and went back outside to fill the bucket again.
Upon finishing Water Duty, Reina stretched and went over to the table that sat next to the fireplace inside the hut, where she picked up a small leather pouch and poured out a small handful of coins. This will do… she sighed. Looking around the hut, which was probably only about eleven feet in diameter, she sighed again; they were incredibly poor compared to anyone else in the entire Tribe. They had to live on what Ryunosuke got paid with, which was hardly enough for three days’ worth of food. At least on his day off he would go hunting. She then picked up a basket that she usually used when she went shopping.
Heading out of the hut and down the beach, the village was just beginning to stir. The youngest members of each family were going out on Water Duty, the oldest sons were heading to guard duty or to the Academy, and the women were heading out to the market. Reina walked briskly down the beach, finally reaching the market and seeing that she hadn’t come early enough again, and that it was already very crowded. The market for food was only open two days a week.
Pushing through the crowd and greeting the merchants, Reina grabbed whatever she could reach without bothering to check the quality; everything would be gone if she waited too long. Once she got what she needed, Reina handed the money to the merchant and shoved her way out of the crowd, taking a minute to breathe once she was out of all that mess.
“Ah, Reina! Hi!” a voice called, getting rapidly louder as a figure approached. Looking up, the source of the voice was a girl with short dark hair and pure, deep blue eyes, wearing a dark blue silk jacket that was too long for her, and fit her like a dress, where she had shorts underneath, but they were covered by the jacket.
Smiling gently, Reina replied, “Shino, good morning!”
“Oh man, have you heard?!” Shino squeaked. Shino was Reina’s best friend, and was always sharing gossip and wearing her clothes in unique ways to try and attract boys, for she was fifteen, which in the Tribes was the age in which a girl was allowed to marry.
“I haven’t heard much lately,” Reina chuckled.
“Kamenosuke’s returning this afternoon!”
Reina tipped her head to the side. “Kamenosuke?”
Smirking, Shino nodded. “That’s right, you haven’t heard of him. He’s sixteen, and was originally from the East Village, though went to live in the Northern Village for a few years when he was eight before returning here every now and then, but they say that he’s going to move back to the Easy Village!! All the girls are waiting at the village gates for him to return; YOU HAVE TO COME WITH ME!”
“What’s the big deal about him?” Reina sneered.
“He’s INCREDIBLY hot and he’s got the coolest personality and he’s just AMAZING!” Shino squealed. “Besides, I don’t want to go alone; a lady’s gotta have friends to fall back on if she wants to marry of course!”
Rolling her eyes, Reina replied, “I thought you liked my brother. Besides, I have like a million more chores to do today.”
Putting on a cute face and grabbing Reina’s free hand with both of hers, Shino begged, “Just drop them off real quick, come and see him come back, then go home and do the rest of your chores! Reina pleeeease!”
Sighing, Reina nodded. “I’ll be right back…”


“THERE HE IS!!” a girl cried to the enormous group that had gathered. Shino leaned over the ropes that had been put up to keep all the girls at bay, and Reina looked as well, seeing a small group of about two, maybe three people approaching.
Shino leaned over farther. “I can’t see him! Which one’s him?!”
Reina pulled her back. “Calm down, he’ll be here in a minute.”
“Aah!! I can see him!” her friend then cried. There were two people approaching, a young man and what appeared to be his father.
The young man had long, brown hair, probably from being in the sun too much that was tied back with a long blue band. He had stunning aquamarine eyes and wore a leather pin-down jacket much like Reina’s, only the top was brown and the bottom was blue to match his leather hair band. He wore loose navy pants that tucked in to his dark brown leather boots, and slung over his shoulder was a backpack. Overall he was incredibly handsome.
“EEEP! OMIGOD HE’S EVEN HOTTER THAN I REMEMBER HIM!!” Shino shrieked over all the other screaming girls, all of which were leaning heavily over the ropes.
As Kamenosuke and his father walked through the gates, the boy smiled devilishly to all the girls, making them shrink away in excitement that they’d gotten eye contact with him. Reina was leaning casually on the ropes, her expression showing that she was incredibly unimpressed. She was probably the only girl there who wasn’t excited, and Kamenosuke noticed this. Walking over to her, he smiled and lifted her chin to make eye contact, where he said coolly, “Come on, be excited. I want to see you smile.”
Pulling away from him, Reina seemed almost disgusted in a shy kind of way toward him. Her face had anything but a smile on it. She didn’t want him talking to her—he seemed to be pretty obnoxious.
“Aw, come on—don’t be like that!” He laughed, leaning in closer.
“Go away,” she muttered shyly in reply.
Kamenosuke pretended to look hurt. “Ouch, you’re cold. I just want to see your smile!” he tried to set an example by flashing a bright smile, where all of the girls went mad and nearly passed out. Reina was still unimpressed.
“Kamenosuke, come on!” His father called, signaling for him to follow.
A look of disgust appeared on the young man’s face, and he turned around, putting back on his signature smile as he trailed after his father. “Coming, coming!”
All of the girls turned to glower at Reina, their eyes full of hate and jealousy. Reina, though, was completely oblivious. Shino tugged on her arm. “You. Are. So. Lucky. I can’t believe he was hitting on you! I’ll give you any amount of shards or shells that you want—just tell me your secret!!”
Reina brushed her bangs out of her face. “What do you mean?”
“Well it’s OBVIOUS he was hitting on you! And besides, you’ll be of age next year! Who better to marry with than Kamenosuke! I can see it now! The two of you, in the moonlight! He takes you with both hands and looks right in your eyes, and says in that dreamy voice, ‘I’ll wait for you forever.’ AAH! So romantic I’m blushing!” Shino giggled.
“Just because he was hitting on me means he’s gunna fall for me or anything. I wouldn’t want him anyway,” Reina sneered. “Now, I have to get home and finish my chores which you kept me from doing!” she then smiled playfully and turned around. “I’ll see ya tomorrow!”


Reina got home a bit later, where she rolled her shoulders a bit before unpacking all the food she’d bought. After, she lit a quick fire and started dinner, going away from it occasionally to do another quick chore.
Finally Ryunosuke came home, where he dropped his bag on his bed, which was basically a straw mat with a pillow and blanket, and then plopped down next to the small table.
“Did you get paid today? We’re almost out of money for this week,” Reina mumbled to her brother, plopping two small bowls of soup on the table and tossing him a spoon. She then sat down herself and spooned up a little soup, gulping it down.
He leaned on the table as he drank his down whole, then shook his head. “Nah. Tomorrow I think. I just wish Gramps would get home already, I’m sick of having to give up my money.”
“You’ll still have to give up your money when Grandfather comes back! It’s another mouth to feed, plus he needs to buy medical supplies constantly and you need a new jacket, remember?” Reina snapped.
“Geez, you sound like my mother. And you’re what, twelve?” Ryunosuke whined.
Huffing an angry sigh, Reina mumbled in reply, “I’m fourteen. And I’m the only girl in our family, and since you won’t take any responsibility I have to take it upon myself!” she then smirked. “Besides, you should be out of the house and married by now, mister single-at-eighteen!”
Her brother looked up angrily, blushing slightly. “I-It’s not my fault! There… there are just no girls in this village who I like! Besides, I could steal the heart of any girl I want just by smiling and remembering their name. I’m too busy with guarding right now to go out and look for a woman anyway…” he then looked down embarrassedly and slurped down the rest of his soup, where he then pushed his bowl towards Reina and stood up. “I’m gunna take a walk…” he then mumbled and walked out.
Yeah, leave ME to clean up, won’t you?! Geez, he’s such a jerk, Reina grumbled to herself, finishing her soup and tossing the two bowls in the bucket that they used for a sink. Washing the dishes was Ryunosuke’s job. Leaning back and stretching, Reina stood up and checked on the tides that were lapping onto the shore. Oh! Low tides tonight! She realized, and went over to the stove, where under it she had a ditch in the floor that held her vast shell collection. When the tides were low, a lot of the girls from all the villages would go down and look for shells to accessorize with. Some of the shells were of great value, and could be sold for a good amount of money.
Grabbing a small basket and a good oyster shell for digging, Reina walked outside, already seeing a lot of girls looking for shells. Going down and stepping to the water, she leaned down and started fingering through the sand for shells. Managing to scavenge a few broken shells and a small conch, Reina dug harder and looked around a wider area.
Sitting back on the sand, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes and sighed. Though she hadn’t found much, she might have found something that might have been of some value. It was what looked like a claw, thought it was a shiny black color, and it wasn’t hollow… it was strange. But she thought she might be able to get something for it if she was lucky.
Standing back up, she brushed herself off and headed back inside, seeing that Ryunosuke was still gone. She didn’t care though. Taking off her jacket and hanging it up above her bed, Reina crawled under her blanket and tried to find a comfortable position, where she then closed her eyes. Eventually sleep overcame her.

* * *

“Get up,” a voice said. “Get up!” it repeated. “REINA! WAKE UP!”
As consciousness flooded over her, Reina recognized the voice as Ryunosuke’s. He was shaking her, and as she blinked her eyes open, she looked to him, where he seemed to be unusually tired. It must have been early in the morning. “What?” she snapped drowsily.
“Did you find anything last night? There’s a merchant that just set up shop and he’s got a lot of money.”
“Wha? Uh… yeah, but I wanna come with you,” Reina mumbled, getting up and pulling on her jacket, where she then went to her shell stash and pulled out the claw. Holding it up to her brother, she let him look at it.
He shrugged. “Looks good. Let’s go.” And he started out.
As they walked down the beach, Reina saw the sky was still dark and dawn hadn’t even broken over the land yet. She yawned; it was far earlier than she would usually get up. But, when they finally got to the merchant, there were piles of coins behind him. He was an old man, and he looked like he’d come from the Southern Village from his attire, which was made up of simple blue and brown clothes and a hat.
“Hello there! Are you interested in trade?” he asked with an old, brittle voice.
Reina nodded, and pulled the claw out of her jacket pocket, putting it on his table. The old merchant picked it up with his long, bony hands, and brought it under a strange gem that seemed to magnify it.
“Hm… I can’t say I know what this is!” he laughed. “Excuse me a minute, will you?” and he ducked under his desk, popping up a few minutes later with a book in his hand. His thumb was caught in one of the pages, where he opened it up from there and a pointed to a picture of a strange, dark-looking beast. “This is a Batther. A bat and a panther combined. It’s like a panther with the wings and sonar of a bat. They have incredible long, sharp, black claws just like this. I believe this is the very tip of one. Commonly, they toss the skeletons of Batthers into the sea once they’ve decomposed after death. The claws of this beast are incredible valuable, thus the beast is rare and expensive to buy.”
“’They’? Where is this beast from, anyway?” Ryunosuke wondered.
“The Tribe of Infinite Darkness.”
The two of them were caught off-guard. Currently, the Tribe of Rolling Stones, the Tribe of Eternal Light, and the Tribe of Rolling Waves were in war against the Tribe of Infinite Darkness that had been going on for about three years at the time. The people from the Tribe of Infinite Darkness were elfin people with rumored pale, gray skin and eyes like snakes, blood that was poisonous to any human, and that they had frozen hearts and demons living in them. They used dark abilities, and had terrifying dark creatures. People had said the sun can kill them, and that they once came close to plunging the world into Infinite Darkness until the Tribe of Eternal Light stopped them. Most people had never seen a person from that Tribe… nor did they want to. There were hundreds of rumors about them, and all of them were bad. And knowing that you found something that was previously there… wasn’t a good thought.
“So… how much is it worth?” Ryunosuke asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
The trader looked down, his eyes being shadowed. “Hmm…” he then whipped out some parchment and a brush and ink jar, where he dipped in the brush and began to do a strange equation at lightning speeds. “In this Tribe… this is worth… hmm… excuse me again.” he disappeared under his desk, and the shuffling of all kinds of things could be heard, until he came up a few minutes later, holding a deep purple, almost black gem. “This is a Black Ruby. It’s worth in other Tribes as much as this Batther Claw is in the Tribe of Infinite Darkness! … It’s worth almost nothing there. As is this claw, here! So, I offer you this trade very generously.”
Reina’s brother nodded, and snatched up the Dark Ruby. “It’s a deal; thank you very much.”
“Nice doing business with you!” the old man laughed as Ryunosuke turned and started away. Reina nodded shyly to him with a slight bow, then ran after her brother.
He was looking at the Dark Ruby, which was completely black in this light. “I wonder how much it’ll sell for...” he mumbled to himself. Then stopped and looked at his younger sister. “You’ve always wanted some kind of fancy gem to wear right? Well then here; hang on to it until I can find someone who will buy it,” and he handed it to her.
Reina’s eyes lit up; she could really have this?! “Uh… thanks Ryunosuke.”
“BUT, you have to wash the dishes now!” he laughed evilly. Reina punched him in the arm and scowled at him.


The day ran smoothly, everything went as normal except for Reina having to wash all the dishes that had piled up over the week. It was about noon, and she headed outside, sitting down on the sand with some strands of string and the Dark Ruby in her pocket. In the sun, it gleamed a magnificent purple color.
Beginning to braid the string, Reina heard footsteps approaching. Not bothering to look up, she already knew it was Shino with some kind of urgent gossip or happening. “Reina! Reina! Come here!” her friend cried, grabbing her arm and pulling her up and down the beach.
“Huh?! Wha?! But I’m—“
“This is better than that! COME ON! Kamenosuke’s looking for you!” she cried, not slowing down and still pulling her to the center of the village.
Ugh… not him again, Reina moaned to herself, then snapped, “But I don’t want to see him! I was doing something!” and she pulled away. “Besides, if he wants to see me that much, he should come and find me for himself!”
Shino pouted. “Oh, fine. I’ll see ya later then!” she called, and started down the way she was originally going. Reina turned around and headed back to her hut, and found Kamenosuke where she had been sitting, smirking mischievously at her.
“Why are you here?” Reina snapped.
“What? No ‘hello’ for your favorite arrogant jerk?” he joked.
“I don’t greet my brother, who is almost as arrogant and a jerk as you are,” she sneered.
Kamenosuke frowned and stood up. “So, do I get to see you smile now or what?”
“NO!” Reina cried in an annoyed tone, and muttered, “Please go away!”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
Reina turned away and glared at him from behind.
“Come on, I want to see a pretty girl smile,” he said coolly.
Letting out a disbelieving laugh, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes and said, waving a hand towards Nami’s hut, “If you wanna see a pretty girl smile go and show yourself next door. I’m sure you’ll be greeted warmly.”
The stubborn young man went over and faced Reina, looking her right in the eyes with a serious expression. “Come on, just smile. Once. For me.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” Reina sneered, stealing his line.
“Hm. I’ve never met a girl as stubborn as you. I’ll come back tomorrow for your smile!” he said coolly as he turned around and saluted her, walking away.
What a weirdo.

“WELL?! WHAT HAPPENED?!” Shino demanded after Kamenosuke left.
“Nothing.”
Her expression dimmed. “Come on, SOMETHING must have happened!”
“Nothing happened. He just harassed me.”
“Ohh! There’s some right there! Eek!” Shino squeaked. “Ah! I looove your little relationship with him!”
“There is no relationship!” Reina snapped.
Her fiend giggled. “Sure Reina, whatever you sa-ay!” she laughed sarcastically, twirling around and walking away.
Sitting back down where she was originally, Reina went back to braiding her string, and soon enough she’s made the Dark Ruby into a necklace. Slipping it around her neck, she smiled a bit to herself and tucked it under her jacket. If it was from the Tribe of Infinite Darkness, bad things might happen if she wore it in public. It made her excited just to have it, anyway.


“Did you get paid yet?!”
“Nah… tomorrow… they couldn’t find the money…”
Reina sighed. The Easter Village Guards (or the EVG) were incredibly unreliable when it came to money. They were always late with payday, and threatening the survival of the population. If they were trying to protect the people, one would think that they would try to get them their money on time so that they can live.
“I thought you had off tomorrow?”
Ryunosuke suddenly snapped into realization of his sister’s comment. “Damnit!” he shouted. “I was planning to spend all of tomorrow hunting! Could you pick up my pay for me?!”
Sighing, Reina replied, “Sure, but you’re going to owe me one. And if I can’t get into the EVG station, it’s not my fault.”
Her brother nodded and gulped down the rest of his food before tossing the plate in the bucket and getting up and stretching. “I wonder if I can find a good Spike Fish tomorrow… I could use some good Spike Fish.”
“Try and find a good Cloud Trout too. Shino gave me a good recipe for it.”
“Ew, Cloud Trout? Gross. I’ll find some Fire Carp instead.”
“Eh?! You know I can’t have Fire Carp!”
“Well I like it.”
“It’s not all about you!”
“Nag, nag, nag, you’re sounding like my mother again.”
“You can’t say that because we don’t have one!”
Ryunosuke didn’t reply. When the two were very young, their parents had left them in the care of their Grandfather when they ventured into the mountains for exploration. They’d desperately needed money, and anyone who could come back from the mountains with a map would be paid immense riches. Even if they were confident in their abilities, they never came back, and were concluded dead. Reina had been too young to remember them.
“That’s what I thought,” she hissed, and stood up, going over to her bed.
Her brother was lost for words, and simply mumbled, “Well, I’m gunna need a good rest for tomorrow… so I think I’ll head in early…”
“Same; if I have to go get your pay, then I’ll need to get up pretty early to go all the way to the EVG and still be on track for the day,” Reina sneered, hanging up her jacket and crawling under her blanket.


Everything was dark, and there was a cold chill in the air. Opening her eyes, Reina looked around into the black nothingness. “Huh?”
There was a wind that started to howl, and she had to block her eyes from it. There was a light voice in it that was just hardly noticeable, and very quietly, it said, “Reina…”
“What?! Huh?! What’s going on?!” the girl whimpered. Her heart was pounding, and she was shaking a bit, and not just from the cold wind.
“The Prophecy…”
“What?! What about the Prophecy?! What?!”
The wind faded, to be replaced by the cold, still air, and as Reina breathed out, her breath was warm against the air. She shivered and tried to get up, but her legs gave out under her. Then a strange sensation began to flow over her, like everything was closing in. Looking around, she could feel the darkness overcoming her, and she squeezed her eyes shut until she felt it pressing down on her, where they flew open and she was back in her bed. Sitting up, Reina looked around, and it was maybe midnight. Ryunosuke was still asleep, tossing and turning quietly in his sleep.
She could still feel the cold air on her face, and as she brought her hand to it, it was ice cold. “What… was that? A dream…?” she whispered, and shuddered. “The… Prophecy…”
With true love comes Infinite Darkness.

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Chapter 2

A black sun rose from below the purple ocean into the dark sky, shining mild light over the Tribe of Infinite Darkness. It was a small island, though thirty-eight villages stretched across it. Most were composed of simple wooden buildings, with dirt streets and dead plants accenting the areas.
At the end of the island stood an enormous black castle, with its spires nearly touching the sky. Towers popped up everywhere, with massive grounds and gates surrounding it. Inside were incredibly high rooms and massive, tall doors and hallways full of people, buzzing around as the morning began.
In the castle’s library, a young man was sitting in a large reading chair, his eyes scanning over the words in a black book with a hard leather cover. He had pale, gray skin and raven-black hair, with slightly pointed ears and a young face. His eyes were a deep purple, and they resembled that of a snakes’. He wore a shiny, black silk pin-down jacket with a mandarin collar, and two dragons around a moon design were stitched in purple thread. The boy wore simple black pants, and at his belt he had five silver chains of small, cylinder pieces that came to his side to what looked like a handle. For someone of the Tribe of Infinite Darkness, he was quite handsome.
As he turned the page, one of the massive, fifty foot library doors creaked open. In came a short, plump man with very dark, reddish hair, hurrying across the room towards the young man.
“What can I assist you with, Arthur?” the boy sighed, not bothering to look up from his reading.
“Your father wishes to see you,” he panted, and then hurried back out. Arthur was the boy’s father’s assistant, and because of that he was an incredibly busy man. It was a shame, though, that he didn’t get paid more.
The boy got up from his chair, and put the book on a return cart before heading out of the library and down the hallway, through the crowd of servants towards the main throne room. Once he got through the main part of the castle, he walked down the bone hallway, which was the ribs of the Ancient Dragon Shade, which made a sheltered arch that lead straight to his father’s throne room. As the guards opened the door for him, the young man took a few steps in and sat down on his knees, where he bowed to his father before standing up.
“The King of Infinite Darkness wishes to see me?”
His father, the King, was a scary man with the usual qualities of the people of the Tribe of Infinite Darkness, though he had long, jet-black hair that was pulled back all the way with purple bands, and he had eyes in such a deep color that they looked black. He wore the headpiece of the King, which was a Black Ruby on a band that stretched around the head. The King wore a large, elaborate coat with a high collar and that fanned out at the bottom, where he wore pants with heavy armor underneath, with large boots and black gloves. He was incredibly intimidating. Perfect to be the King of a Dark Tribe. Though, he looked incredibly bored.
His eyes flicked to the young man, and he mumbled, his voice echoing throughout the enormous room, which had high ceilings and banners of the Tribe Symbol all around, “Apparently there are some peasants demanding a request outside. Go see what they want.”
“Can’t you have a servant or guard do that?” The boy asked, his expression unchanged.
His father was annoyed. “Prince Kabotu, that was an order.”
Kabotu nodded, and turned around, heading back out of the room and down the bone hallway, and upon entering the main castle again, the prince began to weave among all the servants and wind down many hallways before he reached the main doors, which were open today in order to let in the warm air, for the castle floors were all cold tile. As he stepped along the path towards the main gates, there was a group of people over by the gates, and the guards were standing firm and ignoring them.
“Can I help you?” Kabotu asked through the gates. All the villagers turned to glare at him. Most were injured and tired.
What appeared to be the leader was glaring the hardest, and snapped at him, “Yes, finally. We need help!”
Kabotu internally sighed; though he was the prince, no one really knew who he was. They knew there was a prince, but they didn’t know his name or what he looked like because he was never allowed out of the castle grounds. To them he was nothing more than a servant. “How can I help you?”
“Our village is being attacked and has no troops to defend it! Can you please spare some guards?! We’ve come all the way from Asa Village. Please, you must help us!” the man’s voice wasn’t pleading, it was hard and demanding. If he didn’t get what he wanted, there would surely be a fight.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Kabotu assured, and turned around, jogging back into the castle. It took him about five minutes to get back to the bone hallway, where he then entered his father’s throne room, getting down and bowing quickly. He was panting, and the sound of his breath echoed around the room.
“Speak.”
Standing up, Kabotu replied in rasps of breath, “Asa village is under attack and they requite troops to defend them.”
“Asa Village? Isn’t that some tiny group of huts on the west side of the island? If they’re under attack, they should be destroyed by now,” Dabuto replied.
“But, father, if they are destroyed, the enemy will gain confidence and continue on the attack!” Kabotu exclaimed.
The King smirked. “Very clever thinking, my son. If we send troops down, we can also have them wipe out the enemy’s base. Go fetch Arthur to contact General Shin to assemble some troops and send them down.”
Kabotu bowed slightly and turned around, running out of the room. How was he supposed to find Arthur?! That guy never stayed in one place for long. Mumbling a curse or two to himself about how his father made him do everything, Kabotu began to run through the halls of the castle, trying to locate Arthur. Quickly he grew tired, for the castle seemed endless and he was a little lost.
So, he decided to flag down one of the maids that was walking through the hall. “Excuse me!” he called.
She turned around, blinking light amethyst eyes. “Yes? What do you want?” she asked with a sharp tongue. Must be busy, Kabotu guessed.
“Can you get a message to Arthur please?” he asked politely.
“Sure,” the maid sneered. “If you’re lucky I’ll run in to him in a couple of hours.”
Kabotu smirked a bit. “Tell him to contact General Shin to send troops to Asa Village.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” she sighed, and continued on her way.
Well that’s done… I suppose I should go tell those villagers that they’re getting troops, Kabotu grumbled in his mind, and then started back the way he came.
It took about ten minutes to get back outside, where the villagers had dented the gates and were trying to squeeze through. The guards were already on the ground and unconscious, and Kabotu’s eyes widened as they began to rage.
“Hey! Hey! What’s going on?!” He called, hurrying over.
The man from before was red-faced in anger, and he barked, “We just received word that our village was completely destroyed, and all of our families are DEAD!”
The Prince’s eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat. His eyes dimmed, and he was horrified. “I… I—“
“It’s your fault, and we now have no home or loving ones to go home to! WE HAVE NOTHING!” the man raged.
“I’m sorry! I did my best, and troops are going to be sent in to the remains of the village to wipe out the enemy’s base before they advance any further. I’m so sorry,” Kabotu apologized, feeling like a complete failure, and that he had let his people down.
“I’LL KILL YOU! MY WIFE WAS JUST ABOUT TO HAVE OUR BABY AND NOW THEY’RE BOTH DEAD!” he hissed, and pulled out two knives, where he then hit a stance and did a quick whirling motion that cut right through the steel of the gates, leaving the iron rods to clang to the ground.
Shoot… adrenaline… what am I going to do?! Kabotu fretted, and looked for the knife that he kept at his belt. Slicing it out and accidentally cutting through his shirt, he ignored it and hit a stance of his own, where the angry villager then began to whirl with the knives, and all Kabotu could see was the man’s body spinning counterclockwise with the knives spinning around him and in a clockwise motion at the same time, while his arms were flailing wildly.
The man then leapt straight at Kabotu, where the Prince leaped out of the way, and then blocked the knives with his, locking them between, where he then turned the knife, badly chipping the man’s. He only seemed to get angrier, and then put both knives in his left hand, spreading them out so both blades showed, and then drew his arm in to whip the knives out like a catapult.
Kabotu leaned backward, where the knives just missed him, grazing the tips of a few hairs and sending the thin black strands floating to the ground. He stood back up straight, his eyes wide and intense, where he then looked to see the two knives sticking out of the ground a few feet away.
The other villagers on the sidelines were mumbling to themselves, about how the young man was able to keep his own against the angry leader. Kabotu then made a move, slipping behind the man and grabbing an arm, pinning it against his back and bringing the knife to his throat. “Please, I don’t wish to harm you.”
The man was still blind with rage, and tried to elbow Kabotu in the stomach, but he just wrenched his arm farther behind his back.
“I… I don’t have anything to live for anymore. No family, no village… I’m just going to end my life right here. Men, tell the other survivors that I failed them…”
“No Sten! No, don’t do it man!” one of his comrades called, stepping forward. “Don’t end your life! You’re so young; you have so much to live for!”
“I’m sorry Dan… My wife is dead, my child-to-be is dead, my farm was destroyed…”
“But that doesn’t mean you can make up for their lives! Please, Sten! You’ve been my best comrade since childhood; don’t throw your life away like this! Let’s go back home—and fight with the soldiers to avenge your family!”
There was a long silence, and Kabotu drew the knife away from Sten’s neck, where he slid it back into its sheath. The leader then turned to his men, smiling gently, and declared, “Yes… I won’t allow their loss to go to waste.”
He then slowly walked back to the group, where they all wrapped arms around him and started to walk away. Kabotu smiled lightly; what an awkward ending. They didn’t even thank him for the troops. But, he’d helped the man open his eyes and give him hope… which made him feel good inside. It made him wonder if people would respond to that when he became king… or if they would simply revolt like they had before. He knew that people responded different to those with authority, and sighed. The prince still dreaded the day when he became king…
Kabotu’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of quick, light footsteps behind him. “Arthur… I’m always so intrigued by how you manage to find me so quickly…” he sighed humorously as he turned around to see the short, stubby man hurrying toward him.
“Hm. Well, that tale is for another day. You sent a message through the grape vine that I was to send out troops? Which ones would you like me to send?”
“Uh…” Kabotu muttered. “I’m not really sure. Like I said, just ask General Shin.”
“Oh, well, she didn’t mention that. I apologize for disrupting you in such a way. Oh, and I was ordered to remind you that the evening meal starts early today! Please do not forget! Now, if you’ll excuse me…” and he turned on his heel, heading off again with his quick little pace.
I wonder if he has pelvic problems, Kabotu wondered as he watched him go. He must have really strong thighs, though…


The dinner hall was incredibly high, with tiered mosaic ceilings, and plain painted walls of dark beige, purple, and black stripes. A long table stretched across the entire room, where, on normal occasions two chairs sat at each end with a few simple plates of food.
Kabotu walked into the hall, the sound of his boots echoing through the entire room as he went and sat down at the empty chair at the end of the table, only to be greeted by his father, who was glaring up at him. But that wasn’t much of a surprise. “Evening,” the prince muttered awkwardly as he picked up a fork and gazed down at his food. Some weird gray meat with a gray-green sort of leafy vegetable next to it, and some oddly-colored pellet looking things next to them. Some bread lay on a small side plate, with a small slab of blackbutter on top of it that looked like it was beginning to melt. He tried to keep from making a face at the whole meal. Looked like Marian, the usual cook, was still home sick.
To his surprise, his father was also simply poking at the food with disgust, and only took a bite of the bread, shuddering at its rancid taste.
An awkward silence lay between the father and son, where Kabotu just glanced around nervously. He’d never felt comfortable in Dabuto’s presence, and he knew he probably never would. But, dinner was always far more awkward than any other encounter, for they were forced to sit there so that they could eat.
Out of nowhere, the king suddenly stood up, banging his hands on the table and causing all the dishes to clatter as he blurted out randomly, “You need to find a fiancé!”
“What?!” Kabotu burst out in shock, nearly falling backward in his chair. His eyes stretched wide with fear—love? A girl? A fiancé? Someone he’d spend the rest of his life with? His queen? It was—he wasn’t—he couldn’t—
“You’re sixteen now—you were lucky that I didn’t send you out last year! I’m not going to live forever, and unless you find a mate you’re not going to have an heir yourself, and then our line of royalty will be gone from the throne forever!” he asserted, his voice flooded with his usual raging tone.
The prince’s eyes flicked all over the place nervously. “But—I—well—you see—“
His father didn’t bother waiting for a reply. “I’m going to let you wander the country, since those of nobility have no female children, unfortunately… and if they do, they’re too young. I’m giving you—“
“Erm, father, even if I were to fall in love, it takes a lot of time to develop and relationship, and—“
“—I’m giving you six months to find a girl. Though, I warn you—I will be placing guards all over the island, and if you are caught doing anything I don’t approve of, at all, I’m sending out one of my agents and arranging a marriage for you. Do you hear me?”
Kabotu gulped, nervous about what he was being put up against. Marriage… he thought. A permanent act of engagement in which those of high royalty are forbidden to break in the act of divorce. If I am to find a girl… she’s going to have to be really special.... otherwise I’m pretty much screwed!
The King then sighed, and glanced away, staring at the dull walls that stood around him. “Get out of my sight. The gates will open tomorrow,” he stated without bothering to shoot another glance at him.
Rising to his feet, Kabotu bowed and scurried out of the room, still fairly hungry due to the fact that the food was inedible and his father’s declaration had left him without an appetite. Pushing the large door leading back out into the hallway open, he slipped out quickly, stuck his hands in his pockets and began a slow stroll back to his room.
For a prince, he had a fairly plain room. It was large, with the usual high ceilings and dull walls. There was a king-sized bed in the southeast corner of the room, with a dull purple cover and black silk pillows. There were two large bookshelves on the back wall, propped up beside his long desk that stretched half way down the left wall. On the rest of the back wall was a long cloak draped down from the top of the wall, bearing his Tribe’s crest in black.
He plopped down onto his bed with a heavy sigh, feeling the weight of his father’s expectations upon his shoulders. Throughout his entire life, he’d never done anything that a regular person would find as misbehavior—but almost every action he performed seemed to be completely unacceptable in his father’s eyes. He’d always done his best to act politely; he’d held himself with a straight back and his head up; he followed all of his father’s rules. Why was he always yelling at him, hating on him, making him do useless chores meant for servants? It didn’t seem to make any sense to him at all. Thus, he let out another sigh and let himself fall backward on the bed.

* * *

“Prince Kabotu,” a voice rang nagging in his ears. “Prince Kabotu, wake up!”
Blinking open one amethyst eye, Kabotu scowled at the one who woke him. As his vision cleared, it was none other than his usual wake-up call: one of maids, Sara. She was a plump, middle-aged woman with brown, graying hair and an always angry face.
“Well, it’s about time!” she snapped, a hand propped on her hip. “I’ve been trying to wake you for five minutes now! I’m going to be behind schedule! Now, get up, so that I can start cleaning!”
Kabotu sat up, scratching his head and gazed around drowsily before standing up. He grabbed the fresh set of clothes that lay on the edge of his desk every morning. They were basically more pairs of his usual attire—it was required of him, anyway. Heading out of the room, he glanced both ways to see busy hallways, as usual. Puffing out a huff of disgust, he maneuvered his way down the hall, breaking off to the right at the split and entered the first door on the right, the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, he came out again all fresh, though his hair was still wet and it clung to his head awkwardly. He brushed his fingers through it to try and loosen it up, and then started briskly for the front door. The prince thought that he might as well start looking—he hadn’t anything better to do, anyway.
After another ten minutes, he exited the massive castle doors, and glanced around the barren garden to try and remember where the side gates were. He refused to use the front gate—it might arouse suspicion. He weaved through the clever arrangements of dead trees and bushes, his feet crunching under the dry, yellow grass. In his Tribe, that sort of thing was considered to be lush and new and beautiful, as was the deep, dark sky that lay above. The clouds were visible as black wisps, and the sun was a large, shadowed ball.
Kabotu had always wondered what the real sky looked like. The Necromancers had placed a huge, magic dome over the island that was invisible to outsiders, so as to block out the sun—the Tribe’s worst enemy. It had caused all plants to die, and the people’s skin to turn a light gray color. Without that dome, they’d be just as pink as the Tribe of Eternal Light, who were of the same race—elfin.
He finally located the gates; there were only a few placed between the walls that towered around the castle. Slipping out, he saluted to the guards and started for the largest village in the Tribe—Royarin. Having never been there before, he gazed around as hundreds of people flooded past him. Girls heading home for lunch from the Academy, women buying things from the many merchants that set up shop on the sides of the roads, men patrolling or being dragged along by their wives.
Amethyst eyes scanned every girl that passed by, as they chattered to their friends, giggling and sneering to each other. Definitely not the kind of girls I’d like…he mused, looking away.
He wandered the village for a while, until he reached the outskirts, only to see a cluster of people about his age, playing some sort of a sport. Intrigued, Kabotu headed over with his hands in his pockets, standing at the edge of the field. From what he could tell, the objective of the game was to smack a large, heavy-looking ball with a stick from player to player without letting it touch the ground. If the ball touched the ground, the whistle would blow and they’d go back and serve the ball again. The sticks were carved inward on both sides, one inlet on the top and the other bulging out on the bottom, the curve on the other side. They tossed the ball from one to the other, and it seemed that their objective was to toss it through one of three rings, which were all stacked on top of each other. Though, it confused him on how the different rings scored, and he couldn’t really seem to keep track of how one team or the other was doing.
After he watched a game or two, one of the girls bounded over to him. She was a dark brunette with large black eyes, high cheekbones, and large arms. Smiling at the prince, she simply said, “Hi!”
Blinking, Kabotu answered awkwardly, “Uh… Hello.”
“Who are ya? I’ve never seen you around before. You visiting a relative in the village or somethin’?” she wondered.
“Uh… sure.”
“Sounds boring! I bet you’re bored! Wanna play?”
“Uh… alright, I guess.”
“Awesome, then! You can be on my team; my name’s Jina. How good are you?” she smiled, pointing to her stick.
“I’m not sure; I’ve never played…” Kabotu replied with a guilty shrug. He was relieved that she’d averted the subject away from names before he would have been forced to reveal his own.
Jina nodded and then explained how the game worked, though it was hard to understand for the sole reason that she spoke very fast. He seemed to have hit the nail on the head with the basic rules. “… The top ring on the enemy scores two points, the middle ring scores three points for the OTHER team, and the bottom ring scores four points. Sound good? Great. Here’s a cup; get on left offence and wait for the whistle for the quarter to start. The current score is twenty them, fourteen us, second half (three quarters left).”
Trying to absorb all the information, Kabotu nearly dropped the cup—of which he’d found out was the appropriate name for the stick thing—and jogged over to the position Jina had assigned him. She seemed to be main forward, with a really tall guy as the other main forward.
A little kid who was standing in the dead center of the field let out a loud whistle and threw his hand up, running forward as the ball was tossed into the air. Jina caught it, and then passed it to the other main forward, where he ran with it until he was tackled by an enemy defender. Kabotu ran over to back him up, quickly diving to spoon up the ball before it hit the ground, where he then flicked his arm to toss it into the air. Though to who, he wasn’t sure… he hadn’t memorized who was on his team just yet.
The other offender on his team barely caught it, and began to run. When he reached the rings, he tossed it over to Jina, as he was being assaulted by the enemy. Jina made a swift catch, and flicked it strongly into the bottom ring before the other team could go after her. The entire team cheered, and then hurried back to their starting positions. Not bad!
The whistle blew once more, and the other team snatched it up, dashing right toward their set of rings. As the one with the ball went to shove right past him, Kabotu smirked and spun in front of him, elbowing him in the arm, which sent the ball rolling down off of the cup, where he caught it instantly and began to run with it before the poor guy could even realize what had just happened.
He headed toward their goal, following the same path as the guy he’d stolen the ball from, and the other team smiled, thinking that he was stupid for carrying out such a risky move. But, the other main forward seemed to understand his train of thought, and called out, “Hey, over here!”
Nodding, Kabotu flung the ball over, where the main forward then slipped it cleverly through the middle ring. He then ran over to him with a hand up, and when Kabotu didn’t know how to respond, the guy laughed, “High-five, man!”
“Uhh…?” the prince replied, having no “street smarts” due to the fact that he was always locked up inside the castle grounds. “What?”
The guy looked at Kabotu like he had three heads. “High-five dude. You hit my hand… ya know, it’s like…” he didn’t know how to explain, for most people would think that everyone knew things like that.
Kabotu simply tipped his head to the side, and raised his hand to match the other guy’s, where the then slapped it back. “Alright! Let’s keep going!”


The black sun began to set over the horizon by the time the game was over. With Kabotu’s help, the team managed to pull through, winning forty to thirty seven. The entire team said that he wasn’t bad, and that he might actually be one of the better players on the team.
“Not bad, rookie!” Jina laughed hardily.
Kabotu shrugged guiltily. “Uh… thanks.”
“Come back and play some other time, alright? We’ll be waitin’ for ya.”
“I’ll remember that,” he said, and turned around, waving good-bye to them as he walked away.
It took a half hour to get back to the castle… he’d gotten pretty much lost.
Almost the second he set his foot on the grounds, Arthur came walking up to him. “Prince Kabotu!” he cried. “I thought your father told you to be back before the sun set?”
“He did not, Arthur.”
“… Are you sure?”
“Quite.”
“… Hm. I must alert His Majesty of this.”
“Good Evening, then, Arthur,” Kabotu dismissed, and the small man scurried away as usual.
Sighing, Kabotu headed back into the castle.

* * *
The next morning was fairly warmer than usual; it seemed that spring was drawing to an end and summer was soon to dominate. Kabotu didn’t much mind the hot weather; it warmed up the castle a little bit, partially taking the chilling edge off of the hallways.
As he headed down the halls, the prince decided to head to the Beastiary to take out his pet Batther, Darkwing. He didn’t feel like wandering his own village again, so he had decided to wander off to another village.
Upon reaching the Beastiary, he maneuvered his way through the stables, until he reached Darkwing’s pen. Grabbing a treat from the small bucket that hung next to the door, he tossed it over to him before opening up the pen.
The bat-panther greeted him with a good sniffing before nosing his hand affectionately.
“How are ya, boy?” Kabotu asked warmly.
Darkwing replied with a low purr, and then followed his master outside into the gardens. The prince slid onto the back of his Batther, where he then braced all the muscles in his legs, and with one tremendous leap ascended into the sky. Its massive black wing then shot out, flexing as they began to flap to as to gain altitude.
Kabotu felt the wind rush through his hair as they soared above the Tribe of Infinite Darkness, the refreshing feeling of the sky overtaking him. Darkwing also seemed relieved to fly out somewhere else besides the castle grounds; when he was younger Kabotu would often take him outside to fly around the gardens to pass the time. But now they really got to go somewhere, and the two of them hoped that Darkwing would have the stamina to do this.
They soared past Royarin, over the fields and as Kabotu ordered for his Batther to turn, he saw a strip of sand flash from behind Darkwing’s wing, where he then ordered for him to go back and descend onto the sand. His paws landed with a light Bmp as the sand squished under them. Kabotu got off of his back, feeling the odd sensation of the sand under his feet as well. It was odd, sand; he’d never felt it before. It was soft and grainy, but as he stood up, he saw the ocean stretching out ahead of him. The water was a dark color, lapping against the shore and washing things into the sand.
Kneeling down to feel the water, it was cold and stung a bit… was that salt? Salt water? How odd, was all he could think. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it, the sea. The vast expanse of water seemed to go on forever; he couldn’t see anything else but water in all directions. Other Tribes must lay beyond…he realized. It’s dangerous. He paused. But… this place is so dull sometimes… and in all the books I’ve read, the world is so vibrant and lush. This could be my only chance to see what it’s really like!
But as he stared at that water, his curiosity got the best of him. He’d always been far too curious for his own good… and it was starting to cloud his judgment. Looking to Darkwing, the black beast seemed to also understand what he was going at, and seemed curious himself. The prince mounted his Batther once more, where they then broke into the sky, though, they headed away from the island, instead of deeper into it.
Kabotu’s eyes were shining as they neared the edge of the Necromancer’s Dome, wondering what trees really looked like, what the sky really looked like—what anything really looked like! His heart pounded with excitement, and soon enough he felt the strange sensation of breaking through the magic barrier, and opened his eyes to see a complete blast of vibrant color.
“Oh wow…” he whispered, his eyes wide as he gazed around. The water… it’s so blue! And the way the sun reflects off of it—the sun! It’s… yellow! And the clouds; they’re white! And the sky is of such deep color!
As they flew, everything seemed completely renewed, and everything was beyond his expectations. “Darkwing… how incredible is this?”
The Batther grunted in reply.
“What… what’s that? Are those… trees? And mountains?” huge mountains stretched in front of them, lined with trees and white beaches to the left. “Darkwing, let’s go look!” he cried, though the grunt in reply was heavy and fatigued. “Darkwing? Darkwing, are you alright?!”
But the poor thing was beginning to struggle; the two of them had underestimated his stamina. The Batther was beginning to sink from the sky, struggling to stay in the air, and Kabotu’s heart began to pound harder—not from excitement, but from fear. Darkwing twisted his wings, straining his neck and trying to run in the air, but before he knew it, the two of them were plunging down onto the land below.

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[applePAI!]

Chapter 3

“Sheesh, what’s with him?! All he does is dump his work on me so that he can go off playing guard! And he never brings home his pay—uck! He just disgusts me, that’s what he does. I don’t care if he brings home money, I just want him gone! Gone! Gone! Gone I say! He’s just so annoying! I do everything around the house and what do I get in return? ‘Squirt, we’re out of food; you need to go buy some.’ Oh, I wonder why we’re out of food? Because you ate it all, that’s why! I get nothing! And you don’t get more pay for two more days, so all we have to go on is what you get from hunting tomorrow!
“I cannot wait until our Elder-That-Watches comes home with some extra money—I cannot wait. When is he going to come home?! He was supposed to be home by now, but then we get another letter saying he got another house call, and the patient he was with earlier ran out of money, so they opened up a tab, so that huge chunk of money that he was planning on bringing home was nothing but a lie! Those stupid rich people, always interfering with all of Grandpa’s work!
“And now, there’s that jerk head Kamenosuke bothering me like there’s no tomorrow, bugging me to smile for him, and even when I do, he still doesn’t leave me alone! It drives me mad! I can’t stand it. Why is it that all the men that bring joy to every other female member of the tribe brings me nothing but misery! Misery! It makes my head want to explode or something—I just wish he’d leave me alone already!
“Why is my life so hard? Why is it so hard to be the poorest girl in the entire Tribe? Why me? What did I do to deserve a life like this? I spend all my days doing chores like my brother’s servant, I have no free time for myself except for low tide, I have no love in my life—what have I done? What do I even have to live for? Is my life meaningless? I’m nothing but a speck compared to all the people in this Tribe—in this world. What is my purpose? A single person of such a low rank as myself has no impact on the world around me… I’m completely powerless. What can I do?! I’m so worthless!”
“SHUT. UP. I’m trying to sleep here; I have guard duty again tomorrow.”
“You shut up! I need to get this off of my mind, and you have guard duty almost every day—yet you stay up way past the mark drinking at the tavern with some girl you don’t even know or remember the name of! Humph! I think I deserve the right to rant as I please!”
“But you were just blabbering on how you’re so useless and you mean nothing to the universe.”
“My god! You’re so beyond rude, butthead.”
“What? I was just repeating your own words.”
“Is that really what a brother is supposed to do? Just, agree with her sister in distress? You’re supposed to be all like ‘no, you mean something to me, my darling little sister!’, what kind of a brother are you?!”
“One who is trying to sleep. Now quiet down and go to sleep.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I’m going to go and buy some Fire Carp and force it down your throat. How does that sound, hm?”
“See? That’s not what a brother is supposed to do. You treat me like I’m so worthless, you know that?”
“Yeah yeah… I heard you the first time.”
“Then why don’t you ever take it to heart? You know I really mean it!”
“I don’t really care.”
“But—but you’re the only family I have! Besides, what would you do without me? You’d have to get the water yourself, go shopping, learn to cook—“
“I’ll marry and get my wife to do all of that for me.”
“But if you treat her the way you treat me, she’ll soon divorce you, and you’ll be the talk of the Tribe in no time about how pathetic you are!”
“Then I’ll find another loyal fangirl, like that Nari girl next door.”
“She won’t like you anymore if you marry!”
“Then I’ll go to the Tribe of Infinite Darkness and pick up a girl there and let my soul rot under their black sun until I die. Happy now? Get off my case and go to sleep, damnit!”
“You are so… so… UGH!”

* * *

Reina was up before the sun rose, where she stood on the beach in front of her hut with her arms crossed and a melancholy expression on her face. She hadn’t slept much the previous night, what with her argument with her brother and everything.
The sun was just beginning to peek out from behind the ocean, drowning the water in a pink-orange light. Her slate blue eyes were sternly fixed on the ocean, its waves lapping endlessly against the shore. She heard the footsteps of her brother stepping out from the hut, guessing he was rubbing his eyes and in a few seconds he would yawn.
“What are you doing up so early?” he muttered drowsily.
Reina paused before replying. “I couldn’t sleep,” she stated simply.
“Well we’re out of money, so there doesn’t appear to be anything you need to do today.”
“Is that so?” she wondered aloud. “Well then, I guess I’ll look for something to do.”
“I vote you get some sleep,” Ryunosuke suggested, patting her on the shoulder before turning to head off. “Later.”
So now he decides to care… she sighed, shaking her head. “Well, maybe a couple hours won’t hurt.”
The young Tribe girl padded back into the hut plopping down on her straw mat, not bothering to place the blanket over her. Closing her eyes, she hunted for sleep, slowing down her breathing and clearing her mind… but it never came. She tried for at least an hour, not even getting close; thus she just lay on her back and stare up at the roof, lost in her own thoughts.
After a while she became restless, and was forced to get up. Walking back outside, she glanced down the beach, noticing it was fairly quiet today. Letting out a long breath, she heard light footsteps coming from the head of the beach, and turned to see Nami dashing up to her.
“Hi Reina!”
“Uh… hi Nami. Where’s the fire?” the brunette replied awkwardly.
“Where’s your brother?”
“He… just left for guard duty…”
“… Oh,” she sounded disappointed, “Well… do you know when he gets back?”
Reina sighed with annoyance. “Why?”
“Becauuuuse~” she giggled, winking cutely as her brown hair drooped over her shoulders.
“I’ll give him a message, how about that?” Reina sighed, glancing down the beach as if she was expecting someone to appear there at any minute.
“Mm… no, that’s alright. I’ll just pop back in later, buh-bye!” she jeered, and spun around on her heel, lightly dashing back into her hut.
Reina then went to turn and head into her hut as well, but was stopped by an annoying ring in her ear. Kamenosuke! She raged sub-consciously, and didn’t even bother to turn around and face him; she just kept walking, and into the hut she stepped, going over to the small table on the northwest wall where they usually ate dinner and such, where she sat down after realizing that she was starving. She’d ranted to much the previous night and Ryunosuke hadn’t given her any of the food, for he protected the food cabinet and didn’t give her any.
Reaching over to the cabinet, she opened it up—only to see it empty. Shoot… she groaned mentally, then remembering they didn’t have any money. Her stomach growled, and she looked to the doorway, where Kamenosuke stood silhouetted by the sun behind him.
“What do you want?” she growled, standing back up.
He smirked devilishly, “A smile from my lovely lady.”
Reina didn’t reply. She just walked past him, shooting a quick, fake smile in almost a ridicule.
“Ooh! So she cooperates today!” he exclaimed, turning around with amused expression.
“Leave me alone; I have to go find something,” she muttered, and went around to the back of her hut to grab one of her brother’s spears.
He raised an eyebrow. “A weapon? I surely hope that’s not to skin me with.”
“If only I had such an ability.”
“OH! So cold!”
“Now, let me be!” she snapped, going to head into the forest.
Kamenosuke ran up and grabbed her shoulder, turning her around. “Woah, you’re not thinking of going into the Eastern Forest alone, are you?”
“What’s so wrong with that?” Reina hissed.
“You’re a girl! You can’t survive in the Eastern Forest alone!”
“You underestimate people. Now, let me go!”
The warrior shook his head. “Nooo way, I’m not letting you go. Why do you need to go in there, anyway?”
“Because my brother’s an idiot, just like you!” she could feel her grip on the spear tightening, and her heart beginning to pound at her anger.
“Why are you so cruel?” he pretended to look hurt.
Huffing out a sigh, Reina replied, “Just leave me alone already!”
“But—“
“No, Kamenosuke,” she began to say, incredibly serious. “Seriously. I don’t like you, and I never will. So just leave me alone, alright?”
From his expression, he seemed to finally take it to heart, and simply nodded. “Alright,” and he simply walked away.
Shocked that he actually listened, Reina felt kind of relieved, but… kind of guilty at the same time. Though, her extreme hunger distracted her from that, where she dashed into the Eastern Forest to try and hunt a little bit.

* * *
“HYA!” Reina shouted, leaping into the air and rushing down on the vole-boar that had been trying to knock down a tree. Her spear pierced through its hard skin, where she squeezed her eyes shut as the animal’s thick blood began to seep out, and it fell limp beneath the blade.
Stumbling back, Reina withdrew her spear and looked at her catch. It took nearly three hours to catch that thing, where it had just been going around and ramming into trees, trying to get some bird nests to fall that might have some nice little baby birds for it to prey on. But, she’d finally managed to catch it… though she was nearly bent-over in hunger.
Of course, though, she was in a slight dilemma. It was only her second time ever going hunting, and the first time she’d been with her brother, who was strong enough to carry their catches back to the hut. And, of course, Reina wasn’t the best with upper body strength, and she could hardly get her arms around the thing, it was so big—never mind pick it up. Sighing and giving it a kick in the side, she was totally at loss on how she was supposed to cook it or move it or anything. Her stomach let out another of its common, demanding growls, and she leaned back against a tree trunk, clutching her stomach in pain.
It’s at times like these that I need my brother… despite how much I hate him! She rued in her mind, and wondered if it was around the time when he got home yet. It had taken her so long to catch the vole-boar that she’d completely lost track of what time of the day it was. Not only that, but it’s at times like these I wish our Tribe was allowed to use magic!
Magic was a common skill in other Tribes, used in ways called “Abilities”. These abilities ranged from many different things, such as making fire in a flash, or turning into different things, or summoning things. In addition, each Tribe had an Ability unique to those of their own blood—the Tribal Ability of the Tribe of Rolling Waves was called “Infinite Breath”, which let the user breathe underwater.
Of course, all usage of magic except for the Infinite Breath ability was forbidden in the Tribe of Rolling Waves for reasons that lied deep in the Tribe’s past, in which Reina was unfamiliar with. She just wanted to learn some type of ability that could help her get the vole-boar home.
Kneeling down, she tried once again to push it, but it wouldn’t budge. If only she’d thought the whole thing through—now she’d taken the life of this poor animal for nothing. Slumping down against a tree, the Tribe girl sighed and stared out through the trees to the distant ocean. She glanced to the vole-boar again, and then leaned over to see how far away from the Village she was. There wasn’t a grain of sand as far as she could see, so she guessed she was about a mile or so away. I wonder if I could make a base camp or something… she wondered, still beyond starving.
She then thought against it—she didn’t have anything to make fire with except her brother’s spear, but it was already sort of… ruined from all of her attempts at catching that vole-boar. Gazing up at the azure sky through the gaps in the trees, it was still fairly early and the sky was clear. At least it wasn’t going to rain.
Suddenly, there was a strange, unfamiliar sound. It was sort of like a hawk or a falcon, but… it wasn’t. It was… deeper. Harsher. Terrifying. Standing up in alertness, Reina glanced around the sky for whatever it was. There was a mournful shriek, and the muffled voice of a person. The voice had a large note of terror flooding it. Suddenly excited, Reina ran toward the noise, and heard another large shriek, and then a scream, and then a very loud crash.
“What the--?!” Reina cried, and rushed to the sound of the noise. Dashing from her spot next to the vole-boar, she leaped over fallen tree trunks and weaved around bushes and trees, trying to find the source of the crash. Whoever had been in that situation could be seriously hurt.
Spotting a large splotch of black past a few trees in a small clearing, she tried to find an opening to it or some bushes low or thin enough that she could get over them, and hopped up, stumbling clumsily into the clearing.
But, she was absolutely shocked at what she saw: a large, black winged beast and a boy from the Tribe of Infinite Darkness out cold!

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