Kuro 2: The Dragons of Yin

Chapter 0.1: Light Runner

Thirteen years. Thirteen long years of flying through a black sky and Ryn was tired of it all.

He sat at the helm of the Kite and lit a cigar. The sounds of the city filled the air as he blew a puff of smoke, his right hand simultaneously snuffing the light from the match. The cigar burned brightly in the darkness. His mind wandered.

This was home. The ever-pervasive darkness that permeated all parts of the land, disappearing only when the man-made light spires pushed the darkness away, paving the way for man to see his world.

“When I come back, I’ll spend a lot more time with Aidan.”

“That’s what you always say. But you’re never back on time and even when you are, you never stay long enough. The boy’s growing up without his father, Ryn. He needs you. Goddess knows what time I have to spare for him is limited enough.”

“Shyla, the money’s good. We said we were willing to make this trade-off long ago, so Aidan could have a good life. But it’s paid off Shyla, we’ve finally saved enough for me to quit this blasted job.”

Ryn sighed, looking at the woman seated across him. He couldn’t tell her. How he despised his job, how often he thought of them when he was across the ocean, past the Boundary of Light. He knew if he told her she would tell him to quit. It had taken thirteen long years of living frugally so they could save up enough to open up a small restaurant on Sector 5.

“I’ll believe it when I see it Ryn. Don’t forget to kiss Aidan goodbye. You have to do it even if he says he hates you. He doesn’t mean it.”

The City of Taiyou-Shi wasn’t so bad. As a resident of Sector 5, Ryn was a busy individual. He was a Light Runner, tasked with delivering the Goddess Essence to the far flung corners of Kuro. These days, his only destination had been Yin, and he was growing increasingly tired of making a run to the Winter Desert. It was eerie, harsh and unforgiving. Even the cold, uninviting lights of Taiyou-Shi were at least to his mind, familiar. But that was perhaps because he had grown up in it.

He liked the atmosphere. The smell of food from the nearby restaurants, the sound of the Light Mobiles as they crossed the Mag-Rails at high speed, the glow of the light spires as they cast an eerie, sun-like glow, bathing Taiyou-Shi in light, giving the city it’s namesake, The City of the Sun.

Kuro hadn’t seen the light of the Sun in over a thousand years. Not since Amaterasu-ōmikami, the Sun Goddess disappeared or so the stories went. Ryn didn’t put much stock in those. He thought them children’s tales, the kind of stories he would tell Aidan when he was three and willing to listen to him. The boy was thirteen now, and growing up fast. He didn’t care for bedtime stories, much less the stories of an old man who was never there for him.

Ryn flipped several switches on his console. The Kite lit up, the all too familiar glow of rows upon rows of dials, each one with a specific purpose, measuring many things, altitude, wind speed, even the amount of the Goddess Essence he was carrying.  

He started the engine. It came to life with a low drone, the Goddess Essence powering the tiny motor. Lightweight, but with massive wings that allowed  it to float in the wind, the Kite units were the preferred mode of transport for the the Goddess Essence which weighed very little, the distillation of pure light. He checked his gauge: 350,000 Goddess Essence Units (GEUs).

It would take him about a week to go from Taiyou-Shi to Yin and another to head back. When he returned he would be carrying precious cargo, silks and crafts from the Winter Desert. He would not be able to carry much, but what he brought back would be highly prized, and highly priced.

He whistled as he went about finalizing his preparations.

“Ryn, what should we name our boy?”

“Hmmm?  I like Aidan.”

“Why so?”

“It sounds intelligent. He should be a scholar. Not like his father. I don’t want him to be hired muscle. I want him to contribute something useful to society.”

“Ryn, there is nothing ignoble about what you do. It feeds us all.

“There is nothing noble about being a delivery man in the dark skies either, Shyla.”

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