In the year 2100, the world turned its face from God.

It all began with The Hold's rise to power. A shadow union so powerful, they quickly overthrew governments and enclosed their grip on the western world. 

To cement their position, they erected powerful energy barriers along the oceans of Europe and Africa completely separating the eastern continents from the west. 

They did this without bloodshed. 

They did this without fighting.

They did this without resistance.

They did this.

Now, four centuries later, the Hold have eradicated all practice in things outside their image. Beliefs, Religions and cultures…erased in the passage of time.

The absence of all holy traditions and sacraments allowed the dark arts to slowly emerge into the light, flickering the morals of man.

But even with complete anonymity and their seemingly infinite resources, the Hold’s grasp was not absolute.

And soon their fingers began to unfurl…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A woman walked over to the door of a bedroom and switched off the light. She exited quietly and began to close the door behind her.

“Mommy! Mommy! Tell me one more story!” a voice behind her said.

The woman turned around to face her son, jumping on his bed, wide eyed and cheerful. 

She laughed as she re-entered the room. 

“Kai, I’ve already told you one tonight and you still want to hear another? Well, I guess this much is fine since it is your birthday,” she said while tucking him back in.

Kai snuggled under the covers, excited for another story. His mother pulled a nearby chair over to his bed and sat next to him. She reached into her handbag and removed a book. 

“Seriously, I’m sure there isn’t a six year old energetic as you are,” she commented, ruffling his messy hair.

She looked at her son with great love in her eyes. Kai was skin was very fair and his skin was tightly pressed to his bones. He looked like a living skeleton. Still this was an improvement. He had been sickly all of his life and had only recently had been able to do more things for himself.

The book she held was a simple black paperback, no more than a hundred pages. She opened the cover and flipped through it momentarily but her eyes began to trail sluggishly as she looked at the pages. Eventually, she arrived at the end of the book without choosing a story. The woman sighed and placed the book on a nearby shelf. 

“Kai,” she started gently, “Tonight I'm going to tell you a completely new story. One that’s not in our usual book.”

Kai’s expression brightened. “Really?!” He exclaimed.

His mother chuckled, “Yes. Really.”

“I need you to pay attention now because this story is very important and you must not ever forget it.”

Kai nodded his head, still grinning. She began, 

“There exists a place high above this world, above the birds and the clouds that circles the earth," 

"A place where the skies are streaked with amber and its dirt shimmered in a shade of cobalt. A Haven that not even the hands of The Hold could touch.”

Kai's brown eyes stared on so brightly they almost appeared to sparkle. He was trying his best not to interrupt and resorted to pulling his pillow over his mouth to hold in his excitement. His mother continued,

“Now there are very special people who live in this place. People who are kind, gentle and caring. Let’s call these people… The Followers.”

“Why were they called the followers?” Kai asked.

“Because they lived their lives obeying a great and powerful being. A being who rules over them with love and words of life. He protects his followers and guides there way until their journeys are over. They call him … The Most High.”

Kai pictured a giant king beckoning a group of people following him as they walked across giant amber clouds. 

“He must be very strong to have so many people follow him! How does he protect The Followers? Does he punch all the baddies who mess with them?” He questioned while jabbing a fist in the air forcefully. 

His mother laughed and pulled his hand down to his stomach.

“No honey, he is far too powerful for him to simply punch all evil.”

“So how does he protect the Haven?” Kai persisted.

His mother leaned back slightly and paused for a couple seconds. Her expression changed slowly. Then she sighed and leaned back in slowly, starting to smile once more.

“You want to know? Can you keep a secret?” She asked while winking.

Kai grinned once more, “Uhuh! I can keep any secret.”

His mother rubbed his head, “Good.” She leaned in further and began to talk.

“Among the followers, there are those who are even more special. So special that they receive strength and power directly from the Most High. They know no fear or hesitation.”

Kai was mesmerized by his mother’s words.

“Filled with a spirit that melts all doubt, led by hope that burns the chains of evil to ash. Persons with abilities, so strong, all nature bends to their will. They share the light that scares the dark. They are called…”

__________________________________________________________

10 Years Later

PinkShell Village

Swoosh!

A teenage Kai stood alone on a beach near the shore’s edge. He wore a white tee-shirt with a big smiley face on the front covered by the flaps of a green jacket. His hands rested inside his jacket’s pockets that hung loosely over his gray joggers. His mouth straightened as he stared dully toward the horizon. The ocean tide crashed on the lip of a nearby grotto, breaking off chunks of pale sea rocks. His eyes dimmed as he watched a crazed seagull swoop down and snatch a king crab from a nearby reef, separating it from it's baby crab. Most days he enjoyed this scenery, and soothed in the essence of a new day, but not today, because today, it was his birthday.

He walked back up to the beach until he reached the solid ground outside of a small wooden inn on the bend. The place wasn’t anything special but was definitely a unique building in a time this advanced. There weren’t many rooms and the wood of the outer walls were stained white from the sea blast, but still, Kai called it home. He knocked the caked sand off the soles of his feet and slipped into his usual Gl-1de sneakers. As he wheeled out his bike, he noted that it had definitely seen better days. Faded red color, scratched paint and rusted spokes. He kicked up the stand as he prepared to leave. As he fastened his helmet, he heard someone call out to him from above. 

“Aren’t you going to at least say you're heading out?” the person questioned.

He looked up to see an elderly man smiling down at him from the second floor balcony. From the look of his face you could tell he was at least sixty, but he stood with the presence of a young fellow and beamed with the generosity of a parent.

“Sorry, Mr. Sacclin. I guess it slipped my mind.” Kai said plainly looking back down to his handlebars. 

The old man sighed. 

“We’ve lived together for over a decade now so there’s no need to be so formal. Maybe you should call me Saccy. That’s what my friends used to call me back when I was about your age.” 

“Maybe,” Kai responded rather absentmindedly. 

There was a momentary silence between the two.

“How’s the tide out there?” Sacclin inquired while tossing Kai’s backpack down to him.

“Pretty calm. Nothing’s changed I guess.” He responded, catching the bag with one hand.

“That’s good. A lot of people want to see change but once a tide gets riled up you never know how long it will take to mellow out again.” 

Sacclin looked at Kai's face and realized that he was not listening. 

“But maybe I’m just rambling…” Sacclin trails off.

Kai finished mounting his bike and prepared to leave as Mr. Sacclin stood silent.

“Hey,” Sacclin called out. 

Kai looked up.

“Enjoy your birthday kid.”

Kai nodded his head and took off up the road from the inn. Mr. Sacclin watched him ride all the way up the hill until he could not see him anymore. He sighed once more and headed inside of the inn.

"That kid … " 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kai pedaled hard up the road, bustling through the seaside village. Several persons hailed him on his journey and he waved back grimly. PinkShell was one of many villages on Anulla. A small island in an archipelago known as the Inter-Traditional Convergence Union (ITCU). After The Hold established their kingdom of Astia four hundred years ago, the ITCU remained the only known place in the west where someof the Old World cultures still existsed. No one knew why this was permitted, but those who were sick of the Metalheads, Alters and Dynamos often retreated to the ITCU for a change of pace. Unfortunately, only the fortunate few were ever allowed in to experience that calm of mind. Ironically, Kai hated that calm. It was all he knew. The quiet gave his thoughts and memories all the spacethey needed to eat away at him slowly. Every year his sickly body grew stronger but his mind continued to rot away.

He was passing the park not far from his school, when suddenly, a rock flew into the spokes of his front wheel causing the bike to stick and topple over. He fell on the ground hard and the bike went skidding away from him.

“Nice aim dude!”

Kai groaned slightly, and looked up to see two school boys across the road from him. One was ginger with freckles and rather short. The other was a tall and slender pale boy with his hair slicked over his face. In Kai’s mind, the pair belonged more in a circus or street show than a school.

“Jay and Timmy…” Kai started as he stood to his feet and brushed himself off, “I don’t remember seeing any sewer covers around these parts, so where did you two come from?”

“Save it! Jay and I don’ got time for your smart mouth today!” The slender boy yelled.

“You snitched us out for those V-Cigs last week, now prepare to suffer…” Timmy continued smiling maniacally.

“Look, usually I wouldn’t mind toying around with you movie extras, but today's really not the da…”

The ginger haired boy rushed Kai, throwing a punch at his face. Kai weaves the blow slightly and counters with a hook to Jay’s jaw. 

Crack!

The tiny fellow rocked back and forth for a second and then fell face first to the gravel, asleep.

“Wa…this guy never fights back! What’s his deal?!” Timmy thought to himself looking down at his unconscious friend.

!!!

Timmy looked up in time to see that Kai had hurled something with all his strength into the air. Timmy’s look of confusion changed to panic as he realized that thing …was the bike!

Before he could move, the front tire of the bike slammed into his face, crushing his nose. Timmy fell to the ground on his back and the bike went skidding away once again.

“AH! AH! YUWF BWASTARD! MYF NOFSE!”

Kai walked over to Timmy while he was groveling and wailing in the gravel and looked down at him in disgust. Timmy looked up at him and coiled in fear as he watched him raise his foot into the air preparing to stomp him out.

GRIP!

Suddenly, Kai found himself caught in a headlock. An obese, pig of a boy had wrapped his arms around his throat with a wicked smile. He dug his nails into the boy’s arm and twisted his body to escape but to no avail. Timmy on the other hand, had managed to struggle to his feet.

“Yef…You didn’ thinkf we were alonfr, did ya?” He taunted, still clutching his bleeding nose.

“Tsk! They got Billy in on this too?!” Kai thought to himself as he fought for air. 

The more he struggled to get out of Billy’s grasp, the more energy left him. He punched up at Billy’s face, tagging him multiple times in the jaw, but the large boy simply firmed the blows and snickered.

“Night Night…Loser.” Timmy smirked as he reached towards Kai’s slowly closing eyes with his bloodied hand.

BAM!

*COUGH* *COUGH*

Kai gasped for air and dropped to his knees as he was released from Billy’s grasp. There was a loud thud and he looked to his side to see Billy out cold on the gravel, eyes rolled back into his head.

“Remember…the thing about movie extras is, there’s always at least three.”

Kai watched a red and white high top sneaker step forth beside his face. He looked up to see a tall handsome blonde boy standing beside him. He had bright, ocean blue eyes and wore the uniform of the highschool Kai attended, although he wore it very casually. He had a smile on his face that Kai could only describe as … pure. It was puzzling, Kai had never seen him on campus before but couldn’t organize his thoughts while he was recovering. 

“Also, throwing a bike at someone is kinda crude, no?” The blonde boy stated as he tilted his head to look at Kai.

Without taking time to process what was happening, Timmy rushed at the blonde boy who was still looking at Kai. He threw a barrage of punches but the boy simply removed his hand from his shirt pockets and caught each one with his palm without looking in his direction.

“See when you're winning a fight, you need to be a little more flashy.” 

The boy continued to look at Kai who was getting up slowly. With one half curled finger, the blond boy struck Timmy hard in the nose, causing him to stumble back in pain.

“AH. NOF AGAIN!”

“See?” 

Kai pulled his teeth. He walked up to Timmy, curled his fist, and clocked him across his temple. Timmy fell to the ground for a final time, out cold.

“...Or not.” The boy retracted, shrugging.

Kai turned towards the blonde boy, rubbing his throat and stretching his neck from the hold earlier.

“Who are you?”

The blonde boy smiled once more and shook his head.

Kai scoffed and walked over to his bike.

“Not even a thanks though?” 

“Nobody asked for your help,” Kai responded callously.

“Don’t worry bro, there’s no shame in getting saved.”

“Shut up. And I’m not your ‘bro’.”

The blonde boy walked behind Kai as he stood his bike up and handed him his bag.

“Crudeness aside, you do have pretty good fighting instincts. Very crafty. Who taught you to throw down like that?” The blonde boy inquired.

“None of your business,” Kai responded as he yanked the bag out of the boy’s hand and turned back to his bike.

“Seems Saccy might’ve done a better job than we thought…”

Kai’s eyes widened. He turned around sharply.

“How do you know…”

The boy was gone.

The wind whistled and thrashed sharply as if to esteem his exit.

“What in Astia…”

Kai was speechless. Was he imagining things? Wasn’t there a cheeky boy helping him fight moments ago? Did the lack of air really make him go crazy?

His thoughts were interrupted by a pounding headache from the oxygen deprivation. He decided it was best not to think too hard about it and continue to school.

As he rode a way, the blonde boy leaned against a tree on a nearby hill that overlooked the park. Beneath him was a darkened figure that sat under the tree masked by the shade.

“Well, he’s got heart…” the blonde boy started, “but he’s too easily provoked.”

The figure said nothing. The blonde boy smiled.

“Nothing new there right? He’ll be right at home.”

The figure smiled.