When we fell from Earth

Prologue: To Find what has been lost

Eleven, they shall walk down the lands they once ruled,

in vain, they thought their enemies fooled.

-First stanza in the RulersOFall prophecy of the return

Remyzil, who preferred to be called Remy, has been sitting in front of his laptop screen for seven-hours straight now, and he still hadn't found them. He has been searching for nearly ten years now, since Deus gave him the Fragment of his power. Remy typed a command on his new Graphical User Interface for the tracking system, and pushed his wheelchair backward and closed his eyes for a bit.

Grandana, the floating land, once the capital and the Palace City for the land wind, was calm at nights. Growing up on the outskirts of the floating land, he had read a lot of books describing the parties and revels that used to be held each night in the Queen's honor. Remy remembers how he used to imagine himself standing up and dancing around in one of the revels. He would imagine himself dancing around a bonfire, chewing on a caramelized Honta fruit. Remy had heard of the Honta, of course: The purple colored, sugary fruit that only grew in the Palace's gardens. As a child, Remy was fascinated by these small things: Revels and sugared fruits. He would spend days locked up in his room, reading about these parties, conjuring up conversations where he talked to the Queen of Wind herself, and she would laugh at his silly jokes. She would even offer to push his chair and dance with him.

But his parents' fights had always snapped him out of it. Remy was born with a disability, and to his parents, he was a liability. He couldn't find a job like normal Arothemanians could, and he certainly couldn't help around the house like any normal Arothemanian would. It didn't help, either, that Remy was born slowwitted. He wasn't smart like the rest of the kids his age, and he certainly was not useful in any way possible. His mother would curse him for being like that; his father would whip him for being so useless, and Remy couldn't utter a word. Remy could only cry.

Someone shook Remy, waking him up from, even though he wasn't really asleep. He perked up to see his twin brother, Ramyzil, who preferred to be called Ramy, and smiled. "Here you go, Mantran coffee, to help you stay up."

Remy took the steaming up and grinned at the smell. The Mantran spice was his favorite when added to hot water and steamed milk. He looked at the blue concoction and sipped from it, sighing at how perfect it was. He looked at his laptop screen, but the command was still being processed.

At least I found a broad location.

"So, what are you doing now?" Ramy grabbed a chair and sat down next to Remy. Ramy's long sandy hair needed to be cut a little shorter. Remy tried to convince his twin that the bun didn't suit him, but he wouldn't listen. However, beside the sandy hair, Remy and Ramy were anything but identical, or at least, one had to intently focus to pinpoint similarities. Where Remy was broad-shouldered and muscular, Remy was scrawny and narrowed-shouldered. Where Ramy had a trimmed bear and square jaw, Remy's face was hairless and his jaw looked like a knife.

Ramy pointed a rather large, scarred, finger at the screen and said, "I have a theory, to why the location always appears there." Ramy leaned back and crossed an ankle over a knee. "Maybe it is some kind of a school? Or a university, perhaps?"

In their childhood years, Remy would usually be the one waiting for Ramy to confirm or deny absolutely anything. Ramy was the reason that Remy's beatings were not enough to kill him. When their mother passed away, Remy didn't feel bad for it. For Remy, having his mother dead meant that there were two less hands to beat him, and the protection would be equal to the pain inflicted. But their father had grown more drunken and needed more money, and when Ramy was at work, his father would beat Remy and threaten him.

"If you as much as tell your brother about this, I will murder him in his sleep and blame it on you. No one will believe you, Remy. No one will." And it was madness that Remy had seen in his father's eyes. Pure and utter madness that couldn't be left undealt with. Madness that would be better off if sent to hell. But what could Remy do? He was crippled and stupid and above all, a kid. But on the evening of that very day, Ramy and their father had a fight over money, and he had beaten Ramy senseless and took his earnings of the day.

That had snapped Remy.

Remy waited the very next day for Ramy to go to work before he sat their house on fire. Remy sat on his chair, in front of the burning house, unfazed. He didn't care about anything in this world but his protector. His twin. His very soul. Ramy.

Remy had heard his father's screams. He had seen him, looking at Remy from the window, begging Remy to do anything. But Remy had just sat there, looking at their house, slowly turning to ash.

By the time Ramy had returned, their house was reduced to a pile of greyish ash that half of it was already thrown off the Grandana by the bellowing winds. No one had come to check on the house that day, for they knew that this house had a madman living in it, and they wouldn't feel sorry if the world was rid of him.

They didn't even know half of it.

"Remy?" Ramy snapped his fingers in front of Remy's face. "Dude, are you even awake?" Ramy looked at Remy with his usual look of concern, and Remy just waved him off. "I am fine, I'm just thinking of ways to approach them when we know exactly who they are. They don't know of the existence of Arotheman, let alone the fact that they hold powers strong enough to make them nearly gods." Remy took a sip of his Mantran coffee, put the cup aside, and wiggled his fingers and started typing.

What if we use their own technology?

We can use the application they use for messaging?

We can try and go for them ourselves?

We can try to send someone for them?

Remy turned to Ramy, who was reading the suggestions and nodding. "The first one seems the most logical. We use whatever they use. Going for them will be very risky: The Gashes aren't stable, and sending someone has the same issue." Ramy stroked his well-trimmed beard. Remy nodded and started finding ways to, computationally, create a Gash inside their technology, so he can access their messaging application. Ramy messed Remy's hair as he stood, "I'll go and make dinner, anything specific?"

Remy shook his head, "Nope. Just the usual. Though, I want my eggs runny, okay?"

"How do you even eat it, dude?" But Ramy had already left for the kitchen.

As his twin, Ramy was an excellent Guardian.

When Remy killed their father and burned their house down, the twins had wandered Grandana aimlessly, weaving through the streets and alleyways of the great city with no clue on where to go and what to do. Ramy occasionally working to earn money for the day, and then spend few days with none. Months had passed like this, some of which, one of them would be sick and in need of medications. If it was Remy, it was easier. He wouldn't have mind dying if it made his brother's life easier. But when it was Ramy, Remy couldn't do anything for his brother. His brother would work regardless of anything.

Until the day the twins met the hooded man. A clock that was so black, that it seemed to absorb everything around it; light would shy away from it, plants would look the other side when he walked by them. The man took the hood off and Remy was mesmerized by his ethereal beauty: White hair that was neatly combed, white beard that was neatly trimmed, blue eyes and a somewhat square face. Remy's eyes gleamed as he looked like one of the princes, he read about in the books talking about the balls that was held in the Palace so long ago.

The man had identified himself as Deus. Ramy had pushed Remy's chair and walked past the man, calling him crazy for claiming to be Deus, the King of Time, brother to the Imagination Creator. But the so-called Deus had proved himself to them, for Ramy found his steps being retracted, going back in time. Magic only accessible to Deus. He had offered them a deal that day: For Remy to become the King of time and Ramy his guardian and in exchange, they would unite the Kings and Queens and see them home.

They had accepted the deal, and it was the day that Remy was granted great wisdom. And realized how foolish he was in accepting this deal.

Remy snapped back to reality when his command was fully executed, his laptop beeping to grab his attention. Ramy came running, his apron covered in oil and the smell of half-burned Kapaski bacon. Remy grinned, however, as he said. "We found them, Ramy. Time for us to get to work."