(Highest ranks: #2 yonaofthedawn, #9 dragon, #3 akira, #3 jaeha)
Meet Akira. Most powerful warrior in all of Hikari, known as the Tiger Lily of Hinode Castle, and personal bodyguard to Prince Kai.
She really hates that last part.
Akira is a living m...
How are you? How are the others? I'm sorry, I forgot their names, but then again, I doubt it matters. How is the situation in Kohka Kingdom? Anything important happen? Something important happened here.
His Majesty King Masaki has passed away due to the unknown illness he has suffered from in the past year. I would prefer that you didn't disclose this information to anyone. I don't want the princes to catch wind of the fact that I have an older brother. You know how they are.
And before you ask, NO, no one at the palace has made any moves on me of the late, so there's no reason for you to come and kick anyone's butt. What about you? Have you confessed your feelings to HER yet? Don't deny it, I know you have them, and it would be stupid to wait for too long.
Moving past that, I have some news. Prince Kaito recently beat me in a battle. But something was wrong with him. He was acting violet and infuriated, as if I was his mortal enemy. His eyes were crazed, but just before that, his expression was blank and his eyes were dull. Do you know anything about this? Is there some sort of disease or mental illness that can cause a normally rational person to act like this? Even a drug or alcohol?
If you find anything out, let me know. Say hello to the others for me, and try not to make the sketch you send this time TOO horrible, or I'll start thinking that my big brother is some weird monstrous THING. I love you.
Love,
Akira
Beneath my letter, I make a small drawing of myself and roll up the paper into a scroll. My older brother and I agreed that we would always do this when we send letters, so that we don't forget what the other looks like. While I'm good at it, his attempts are average at best.
Tying the scroll with a ribbon and tying this around Eclipse's leg, I send her off. "You know where to go," I say to her before she leaves. "SCRREEEECH!" She nips my finger affectionately and flies off. She should come back in at the most a day, she's very good at flying long distance.
I'm sitting in the palace library a few hours after the king's death. I never knew him too well, but the few times I did speak with him, he was very caring. Like the father I never had.
I had finally managed to convince the medical staff to let me out of bed. They kept telling me that overexertion would make my wound worse, but it's not like I'm going off to take over a country or anything. Just reading.
After writing the letter, I pull a book from the shelves that line the walls. The myth of the Natsu no ryū. The myth of the Summer Dragon? Never read this one, might as well try it. I sit down at a table and open the worn old book.
A long time ago, when humans had yet to walk this Earth, there was only chaos. Darkness and disorder ruled the land, with no warmth or light to be seen. For thousands of years, all creatures lived in fear and gloom.
But one faithful day, or at least what could be called as a day in that world, a miracle appeared. The hopes of the creatures for the darkness to go away, for the cold to subside, for death to stop ruling, all solidified into the Natsu no ryū, the Summer Dragon.
The Summer Dragon was bathed in golden light, with shimmering gold scales. He chased away the dark and cold, but it didn't stay away from the world forever. It manifested itself into the Winter Dragon. The Winter Dragon was cold and unfriendly, and it thrived in the darkness. It and the Summer Dragon both lived on Earth as humans, the Summer dragon as a handsome man, the Winter Dragon a woman of unparalleled beauty. They adopted the names Nikkōand Yuki respectively. Nikkō had control over light, warmth, and day. Yuki had control over dark, cold, and night.
Nikkō opened Yuki's eyes to the light and goodness in the world, and they spent many days together. With each day they spent, a little bit of Yuki's bitterness would melt away and a new star would appear in the night sky, little bits of light in the dark. Eventually, they both fell in love and were married. When this happened, the sun and moon were created. Together, Nikkō and Yuki made Yin and Yang.
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This light mixing with dark created two new creatures - Aki no hōō, the Autmun Phoenix, and Haru no gurifin, the Spring Griffin. These two came down to Earth as well. They followed Nikkō as loyal servants, and for a while, the world was happy.
Unfortunately, peace did not last. Both the Autumn Phoenix and Spring Griffin fell in love with Yuki as well. Try as she might, she couldn't get rid of both of them. So one day, she asked them both to meet her under the sakura tree on the hill, so that she could make it clear that she would stay with Nikkō. But when they arrived, and when she was speaking to them, Nikkō saw them, and his heart burned with rage.
He turned back into a dragon, intent on destroying Yuki, whom he thought would betray him. Yuki turned into a dragon as well, to defend herself. The two lovers clashed, and the Earth shook. Try as they might, the Phoenix and the Griffin couldn't make them stop fighting. Blind with anger, the Summer Dragon cursed the Winter Dragon, saying that she would never be able to escape the hurt that he himself felt.
The Winter Dragon fled to the far reaches of the world, where she wasted away on the mountaintops, until she was no more. The Phoenix and the Griffin felt so ashamed of the misunderstanding they had created, that they vowed to support the Summer Dragon no matter what he thought of them. As for the Summer Dragon, he died, still believing that his true love had betrayed him in the end.
Whoa. That was not a good ending. Man, this is why I stick by my motto - If you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. Sure, I protect Kai & Ichiro, but if one of them died, then I would move on. I have no one I love but my brother, and since I never see him, we aren't that close.
I shut the book and return to my room, tired from my injury. I flop on the bed, and sleep comes to me quickly.
