Season of Cycle (Sky: COTL)

Season of Cycle: The Past

Many tell the tale of the kingdom of Sky, its six realms ruled by the elders, there was the Season of Performance, in the Valley of Triumph, the Season of Enchantment in the Golden Wasteland, the Season of Sanctuary, from the Daylight Prairie, the Season of Prophecy, from the Isle of Dawn, but little know of the tale, of the Season of Cycle...

Where time has once again challenged our descending children of The Light, and all unravels to show the past of the six realms, seasons in history have shown this, such as the Season of Shattering, Season of Aurora, and Season of Remembrance. Still, the Season of Cycle, is more than what it seems, it's a time loop of sorts, wait, what's that bright light? That noise, a voice? A song?..

. . .

There was that noise again, as the girl woke up, she lifted her head to see a familiar figure, bearing a yellow and golden priest-like outfit, a small red-yellow leaf-shaped cape, and her hair in a rag, her smile and kind hand offering to help stand opened a welcoming feeling.

The girl took the other's hand, in a silver outfit with white sleeves, hair short with two tails at the sides hung by blue gems, a little swirl tipped with blue on her head, face markings of white, a golden headpiece, and a necklace holding a broken diamond, the golden-outfitted girl gave a bow, "I'm Kirako! Who might you be?" the lady tilted her head, dusting herself off, white feathers accompanied by a blue cape, a golden hoop tied at the end. "I'm Laverne, nice to meet you, Kirako."

"Nice to meet you too!" the two shook hands, and soon Kirako was pulling Laverne along the white sandy path, green hills and silver mountains surrounding them, the two girls stopping to admire the bell towers with the platform below them showing the manta's constellation. As the two watched the manta fly by, birds chirping in the distance, over time, the two changed, and grew together...

The two danced in the rain of the Hidden Forest, raced through the snowy races of the Valley of Triumph, snuck around the graveyard of the Golden Wasteland, and explored the halls of the Vault of Knowledge, the two did everything together, side by side, like sisters almost. Nothing dared stopped them, not the lowest depths of the oceans, not the highest peaks of the mountains and clouds, the two felt unstoppable.

Until, that day.
The doors to Eden were before the two girls, they had been before, but not together, seeing the red sea sky and dark clouds through the portal, the thundering noise it howled bellowing the two into hesitation, Kirako grabbed Laverne's hand, "Let's go together, that way, we have each other!"

However, the silver-dressed girl shook her head, "I don't think so, we have everything here, don't we?" Laverne protested, however, Kirako only looked more determined. "Come on Laverne! We're unstoppable, aren't we?" she smiled with confidence, and with that, Laverne let out a hesitant sigh, "alright, let's go." she took Kirako's hand once more, and the two went through the portal.

The winds howled and roared, it was dark and eerie like death crept from every corner, yet the two stood, wind bellowing in their faces, the girls climbed the mountain slowly, hand in hand, leaping by the hurdling rocks, to the next set of doors, and so forth came the challenge.

Red skies with dark dragons all around, Kirako grew fearful and clung to Laverne as the two progressed, past the howling winds full of dust and stone, into the tunnel came the first challenge, the dark dragon, however, before the two could run past they were spotted and the two froze in fear, watching the blue light turn red and flicker. Kirako could only turn to Laverne and let go, pushing her friend out of the way, off the path into the dark abyss below.

Laverne shouted, "KIRAKO! NO!" as the dark dragon lept forward and swooped her away, the sound of crashing and winged light breaking echoed in her mind as she hit the lake full of polluted water below, it was suffocating as if drowning Laverne. Her eyes grew heavy, reaching up yet, nothing pulled her away, only down further, and further. . .

Until she felt a rush of light surround her, bright and illuminating, she was brought back home and dropped down on the fresh grass and shoreline of silver sand. She began to cough out the polluted water, her ten wedges returning to full charge, she coughed and spat out more polluted substance, before rolling onto her back at looking at the blue skies, so stunned and unable to move, Laverne would lay there a while to recover her strength.

After many a minute had passed, she tried to stand up, a sharp pain inside her caused her to fall back onto the grass, clasping her chest with her hand, she panted for a moment, it was when she looked at her hands, did she see dark plants sprouting from them, and got scared, trying to pluck them off. Thankfully the plants were removed, but she still felt weak, and unable to do much. She had her light charged, but still felt like she couldn't move.

Laverne had gained an understanding now at this point as she pondered, feeling her body finally not ache in pain anymore she stood up, though a bit light-headed. "Okay.. so, I'm corrupted- how the hell do I fix this?" she began to scratch the back of her head, looking to the returning shrine, Laverne shook her head.

"...Kirako is gone, no doubt about that." she felt her insides shudder, knowing she had lost her best friend, however, was at the same time so stunned and devoid of emotions, as Laverne realized she too could have died, if not for Kirako pushing her out of the way. However, after a week had passed of wandering around, Laverne became adjusted to her new chance at life, she became careless and albeit reckless, not caring if the rain almost burned her light out, or if a krill had spotted her, she simply wandered around the six realms without care.

For what the coming months bestowed to Laverne, were soon to unravel, as if time had stopped for her, she felt trapped in a loop of life, and death, always on the verge of collapsing, or sleeping anywhere she could, as the darkness started to affect her more and more. . .