Darn it. It’s cold and dark again. I am back in that endless ocean nonsense of a place that I don’t understand. 

Why did I have to be left with a cliffhanger like that. 

I guess I will never know, I am stuck floating in this place.

At least now I remember who I am. 

My name? It’s Koi, and I died at the age of twelve in a war between countries. 

A man ended my life of misery and he could possibly be my grandfather.

The answer seems to be inconclusive unfortunately. 

Well, what do I do now? Just ride the waves?

This place feels a bit familiar though, I guess this is the place inbetween life.

It kind of reminds me of the Guardian Sinthea. I don’t know much about Guardians, but I do know that The Kingdom of Ignius holds them closely to Gods.

As for Sinthea, she is the Guardian of Water and Life. Life is made in water.

She is the only Guardian I know much about, but I do know that The Kingdom of Ignius was named after the Guardian named Ignius. 

He was a white dragon that protected the people against monsters while they built their Kingdom, which is the Kingdom that I was fighting against.

Not by choice though. I much prefer the way they do things, or at least what I hear about how they do things.

The Empire is the kind of place to send children to war just so they can use them as decoys.

The Kingdom has an age limit for the soldiers, so you can’t even join if you want to if you are younger than sixteen years old.

Then they are given some lessons and trained to at least know how to wield the weapons they were given.

As for the Empire, they just gave me a sword and said next in line. They didn’t care if I knew what I was doing.

Although I do know how to use a sword since I have been training for the past 3 years.

A bright light. I can see it in the distance and the waves are bringing me closer.

Suddenly, I find myself in, not an ocean, but a warm luscious forest.

I don’t know how long I was floating there, but I much prefer this place. It is calming and smells refreshing.

The sun is shining so bright, I have to cover part of my face with my hand to keep the sun from blinding me.

I look around and it looks so familiar, but I don’t remember being in this forest… 

I look down and see my hands, I remember being small, but not this small. 

I pat my chest. There is no wound. I put my hand over my heart, and I feel it beating.

Am I alive? I feel tears stream down my face. It feels so warm. 

My heart, this is my heartbeat, Mine and mine alone. It is something I must protect with all my might.

“Koi?” I hear in the distance and turn my head to where my name is coming from.

I see a boy with curly red hair and green eyes calling me over and waving.

“Come on Koi, do you want to go to the market with your big brother?” He smiles.

My brother? He looks a lot smaller than I remember. 

It looks like I’ve gone into the past. Then how old am I? This is before we went to the orphanage, so I have to be younger than three.

I smile and run towards him. “Ya. I wanna go with my big brother! Hehe!” I ran over while smiling and giggling.

Now this is Eternal Peace. Here with my brother somewhere warm and bright.

He turned around and bent down with his hands behind his back. 

“Alright Koi! Hop on the horsey.” He laughed.

I’m young so I probably can’t walk to the market myself, huh. I should just act my age.

“Oki!” I climb onto his back and he stands up. I grab onto his shirt so I don’t fall 

“Alright Koi, let’s go!” 

“Okaaay!” I don’t think he’d believe me if I said I died before…. Maybe I will tell him later when I am older so he doesn’t think I was just making up a story.

“Hey Bubba, how old am I?” Let’s get some answers first.

“You already forgot?” He laughs “We are celebrating your first birthday tomorrow, that’s why you are going to the market with me, so you can pick out a present. Aunt gave me a few copper coins so you can get something to play with.” He smiles

Aunt? I thought he was my biological older brother. I guess not.

He looks about Eleven right now. Around the same age I was, and he is bigger than I was. 

I guess I am technically a year older than him if I include my past life. 

“Hehe.” I laugh

While we walked I noticed he had a limp. He was limping to the left side a bit. 

It was noticeable but not so much where I noticed it right away while I was looking around.

I think he is trying to walk normally so I don’t feel uncomfortable. 

He is such a great big brother, but how did he get hurt?.

“Remember Koi, you need to keep your eyes to the ground so people don’t look.” He reaches over our heads and pulls up my hood.

“Oki, but why can’t people see my eyes? I like Bubba’s eyes?” It would be weird if I didn’t ask questions at my age.

He sighs with a worried expression. “No, Koi’s eyes are much prettier than Bubba’s eyes. My eyes are green, but Koi’s are a bright yellow, similar to a flower called a Daffodil. It is the color of purity, but it is not common around these parts so people will stare and will look uncomfortable around you.” He smiles

“Okaay Bubba’s, but your eyes are much prettier, they look like a field without trees and where the sun shines.” I smile and giggle. It is kinda embarrassing to talk like a kid, but it is kind of fun, I don't want him to know that I remember dying during a war in the future.

Although I don't know why I'm here, is it the true 'Eternal peace'? Or did I really go back in time?

He has always been a good big brother to me.

He blushes and smiles. “Even so, don’t make eye contact okay?”

“Oki!” I say as I put my cheek on the back of his head. He smells like roses. It is nice and calming. Being here makes me feel warm inside after being so cold for so long.

He reminds me of Abel, they look very similar, but he has red hair while Abel has Pink hair.

“Are you comfortable Koi?”

“Mhm.” I nod my head up and down, the scent of roses is making me sleepy, how far away is the market anyway?

“We are almost there, so don’t go to sleep yet or else I will have to pick out Koi’s present myself.” He said jokingly.

“I love Bubba.” I said softly while half asleep.

“Bubba loves Koi, but don’t go to sleep, you can take a nap on the way back.” 

“Oki, Bubba, why is the market so far away?” It feels like we’ve been going for about half an hour already.

“It is for our protection, there can be a lot of mean and bad people there so we are far away so we don’t draw attention by living nearby.” He puts his arm over his head and pulls up his hood.

I make a sad sigh.

“Why are you sad all of a sudden?” He laughs.

“Bubba’s hair is soft like a pillow.” I pout.

He laughs “Does that mean you are only using me for my hair?” He said jokingly. 

“No, Bubba is also a good horsey. Hehe.” I reach up and pat his head while kicking my legs a bit playfully.

He laughs. “Well my little knight is very good to me.” reaching up his hand to tickle my side.

I giggle. I am really happy that I can have this kind of innocent conversation with him again. 

I remember the day he left the orphanage. 

I remember him telling me he’d be back in a few years, I was only five at the time so he was already fifteen and couldn’t bring me with him.

I think he was going to study somewhere, he said it would be safer for me to stay at the orphanage. 

He didn’t come back, I think he was going to come back when he turned eighteen, but something happened when I was seven and he must have thought I had died.

There was a monster attack on the orphanage. 

It was in a bad area near a monster portal where there were monster attacks that had happened more and more frequently. 

The portal was docile at the time my brother left so he probably wasn’t too worried about it.

But Half way through my Seventh year, a swarm of monsters appeared and tore apart the entire place.

I was with my only friend at their adopted family's house.

We had met at the orphanage and became great friends.

Once I heard about it, I was in shock. That could have easily been me.

I heard they had even gotten inside and torn apart the manager in her office.

“I guess you saved my life this time.” I said to my friend and laughed nervously, trying to hide my uncontrollable shaking.

She was too shocked to even speak right away.

“You shouldn’t joke about things like that Koi…” She scolded me.

“You’re right.. I’m sorry, I'm just….” I was shaking so much, it took a lot to make me afraid, even at that age.