Lost Legacy

Chapter 1

Chapter I:

The First Rune

Smoke is one beauty in San Francisco. Thirteen-year-old Hako Li remarked in silence. Perched on a rocky precipice, one could clearly see the DO NOT TRESPASS sign meters behind from where Hako sat. Nevertheless, he couldn't care less. The sky broadcasted a forlorn blue, a mixture of black and blue, with faint silhouettes of storm clouds. Tall and thin, Hako's face was gashed with pitch-black locks of hair. His eyes were an enigmatic color, at times looking like piercing stars, other times as dark as coal.

"A pity not to be hiking." Hako commented to no one in particular. Burrowed into the deep valley were factories, as the entire world was in 2089. Even one thousand five hundred feet up into the peaks, Hako could hear the deep rumbles, reverberating like the roars of giants from the chasms.

A small spiral of smoke pirouetted into the skies. Where beauty and prospering greens would be growing, it was replaced by smoke and coal.

Hako sighed in disappointment and glanced at the evening orange sun, now slowly dipping into the mountaintops. Standing up, Hako brushed off dirt from his shirt and headed back to his apartment. His dormitory complex, federal label Province SF 155.733, was stacked in the heart of the Brushy Peaks, once one of the most serene and beautiful places in California.

The Fallen Star Syndicate, now known only as the FSS, had called this new approach: "we hereby advance the administration and et cetera, demonstrative appliance and application of higher forces and technologies upon the preservation of plants." Half of these words, Hako was sure, the Syndicate had taken randomly from a dictionary.

He jogged back to the apartment. Stacked as if by extraterrestrial beings in the smack middle of nature, the complex consisted of three large apartment buildings, all dashing cream white. Hako navigated to the rightmost complex wing, depicted by a soaring falcon frozen in the abyss of time. The hawk's eyes almost perfectly depicted the condition of the world. Dark and frozen in time forever.

Hako turned the corner and opened the fir door. He approached a winding staircase framed with angelic designs, taking the small stairs three at a time. Hako quickly reached the second floor. He turned the corner and slid the horizontal door panels open, taking in the transparent glass reflecting the sunlight. The royal red doors were adorned with gold numbers and lettering. The first door was his dormitory, 2V. The door opened with a soft creak as its hinges rubbed against each other.

For anyone looking in, they would have been struck by the sensation of white. Everything was adorned with white. The sofas, pillows, carpet, and chandelier were all white. The only exception was the logo. Equidinx Academy. Its mascot, a crane of fire, decorated the perfect center of everything.

Hako called out, "Wren!" No answer replied. So his roommate was not back yet.

Hako approached the staircase before a miniscule bird dove down from a hole in the ceiling, loudly squawking. Hako smiled. "Yes. Hello, Chip." The unusually small songbird who had been born with an albino defect that only added to the room's only color, chirped happily, his small black eyes darting forwards. Ever since Hako had brought life back to him after the bird was abandoned, Chip had been a faithful and yet equally annoying companion.

Ignoring the piercing white furniture that would have caused orthodontic problems for anyone else, Hako darted up the apartment stairs, barging into his chamber, a humble but perfectly suitable room. Hako dove head first into the comfortable layers of the coach, appreciating the mere depth of everything in his room. Chip followed, his small wings struggling to keep his obese body afloat. It brought guilt to Hako every time he thought about how much Chip was overfed. Eventually, Chip plopped down to the ground, his wings unable to flap. Hako sighed and scooped him up from the staircase.