XileH_Fate: Tails of Jealousy

Prologue

PROLOGUE

[Part 1]

"Is it morning already?"

A little boy whose age might be a little past the age of a kindergartener was still lying down when warm rays of the sun forcefully opened his sleepy eyes. When he woke up, he cleared his hazy vision and slowly risen to sit.

He observed his surroundings. One might say that it was something unnecessary to do since what he would just see was his very own room or someplace very familiar to him. That said, the boy expected to see a deem room. Windows with curtains that only let little light pass through. A bag and books scattered on the floor, waiting to be collected again for another day of use. And most of all, he expected his alarm clock to be loudly ringing at very moment to wake him up. But—

"Where ... am I...?"

When he woke up, he was lying on the ground. More specifically, it was a cobblestone paved path leading to somewhere. At the sides of the road grew Bermuda grasses in a uniform manner as if they were regularly trimmed. And at the near end of the path, lie something that caught the boy's attention—a colorful sight of a flower garden.

The garden gave the boy a strange feeling yet it attracted him. That small scenery was as if carved off from a masterpiece of a painting of castle gardens during the ancient medieval period. But although one could say that, the sight was clearly suggesting that the garden was something you would definitely not see anywhere in this world.

Each one of the bushes in the garden grew many kinds of flower in them—different sizes, colors, shapes and smell. The boy could actually name some of those flowers there—Tulip, Camellia, Rose, Violet and Daisy. But even so, the boy could still feel the harmony in that scenery.

The boy examined the flowers, he was fascinated by the sight. As he looked around, his sight fell on to a single flower. That flower, even it was still budding, gives off a strange yet breath-taking charm unlike all the other flowers he already saw, clearly otherworldly. Judging from its color, it is confusing to determine it as a rose or as a violet. As he was wondering what would that flower be called—

"...That little child ... she is named Magenta."

Out of the blue, a soft, warm voice unhurriedly answers the twirling riddle inside the boy's mind.

Because he was startled, the boy frantically looked behind where the voice came from. There, he saw a small, stone pavilion, which he didn't knew existed a while ago.

At the center of the pavilion was a round glass table with an elegant looking chair besides it. On top of it, a cup of half-emptied tea and an opened book with a flower acting as a mark could be seen. But the one that caught all of boy's attention was the one standing near the side of the pavilion's pillar, the girl who talked to him.

There was only a word that came out in his mind he saw the girl.

Beautiful.

It seems like the girl was in the middle of enjoying her tea and book while appreciating the scenery of her garden when the boy trespassed the place. Upon thinking about that, he hurriedly apologized. But the girl said "don't worry about it," and welcomed him with a warm smile on her face. He was mesmerized.

Judging from her appearance, it is safe to say that the girl may be twice as old as the boy. She may be around 14 years old. Her long, wavy hair was about to reach the floor even if she's standing. Her fair colored skin was akin to young snow. Even though the boy had never touched the girl, he clearly knew that her hair is as smooth as silk and her skin is soft like a newborn's.

Her emerald-like eyes gave the boy a strange nostalgia when he looked at it. And her gentle smile was very captivating. Even though her appearance clearly suggests that she was just about to enter adolescence, she gives off a strange air of maturity in the way she acts. Elegance was there in her every move. For the boy the girl was simply mystifying.

"Young lad, what would 'fate' mean to you?"

That question from the mysterious girl freed the boy from his daze. It took the boy a while to think and he answered:

"Fate for me is things that I don't have absolute control, anything inevitable. But since this situation right nowclearly suggests that I don't even know what's happening to me, myself, who I should be the one to know the best, so then I say, it's everything."

The way the little boy said those words like he was just stating some statistical report with ease is a bit unusual. People may have changed their impression of him. This lad has a mind broader for his age.

The mysterious girl clearly didn't expect the answer she just heard. Upon realizing that she made a dumbfounded face, she softly chuckled in amazement. On the other hand, the boy thought he has said something rude and frantically apologized for the second time. The girl gently waved her hand saying there's no need to worry about it. Then she softly coughs to put back her usual demeanor. This time she broke a carefree and brilliant smile.

Trying to break the awkward atmosphere, the boy tried to talk to the mysterious girl.

"Uhmmm... M-Miss...?"

"Gaia"

"Miss G-Gaia...?"

"Just Gaia is fine."

"Then Gaia?"

"Yes young lad?"

"What is fate for you?"

With a very elegant manner, Gaia smiled as she spoke.

"Let's see... Fate for me is like a book. Written every people I met as words, every encounter with them as a sentence, and every moment I spent with them as a chapter. It is my everything—in other words, you."

"H-Huh...?"

That time it was the boy who showed a puzzled face in front the epiphanic beauty of the girl. Then out of who knows where, a very strong wind blew past them. It made the pages of the opened book turn rapidly in a backward manner as if it was rewinding the unraveled story to its very beginning. Then the book slowly closed revealing its title: NEMESIS.