ᴍᴀᴊɪᴋᴋᴜ | ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏɴᴇ

PROLOGUE

Red, orange, and gold flames hungrily leapt at the feet of a young girl. Yet, no pain was shown in her eyes nor was there any in her body language. Instead, her soft golden eyes held wonder, happiness, and pride in them. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she twirled around in excitement, the flames following her, but not before scorching the ground that she had once stood on.

"I love this!" She squealed, her voice displaying her happiness as she turned to face a slightly older boy standing across from her. His smile soft and kind as he watched the little girl play with her powers - well part of them. The boy kept a vigilant on the young girl as she dashed around from place to place on the paved ground beneath her.

"Kai, be careful!" The boy called out as she got too close to the grass at the edge of the patio. The girl - Kai - looked back at the boy before stepping away from the edge and ran back over to him. A smile still on her face as she ran to envelop him in a hug.

"Sorry Keiko!" She cried out as she pulled away. Keiko, embraced Kai back before letting her pull away from him. "It won't happen again!" Kai added as she turned to go sit cross legged on the ground. Her eyes shut and she began to inhale deeply. Kai slipped into a relaxed form of meditation as Keiko smiled down at her from his spot by the path leading back into their training house.

Kai's eyes suddenly shot open and she looked over at Keiko with fear in her golden eyes. Keiko looked at her with worry before he rushed over to her.

"Kai, what's wrong?" Keiko asked her as he knelt down to her level so he could look her in the eyes while he talked with her.

"He's coming!" Kai cried out. Her feet scrambled to get off of the ground and rush away, back into the training house. Keiko held a frown on his face as he followed Kai.

Kai's little hands frantically tried to unlock the large wooden doors that separated the outside from the inside. Each attempt had ended in failure, yet, she continued to try to open the doors and escape from whatever was scaring her.

Keiko walked up behind her and grabbed Kai's hands in his own. He forced Kai to turn and face him. That's when he noticed the tears in her eyes and the look of complete terror written across her face.

"Kai, what's wrong?" Keiko asked as he moved to wipe away her tears. "Who's coming?" He added the question when he remembered her earlier statement. Kai shook her head frantically.

"Him!" She cried out in fear. She tried to escape Keiko's grasp so she could get back to her attempts to get back inside. Keiko held her tightly however, and wasn't about to let her leave.

"Who is he Kai?" Keiko tried to question her again, while trying to embrace the young girl in order to attempt to comfort her. Tears kept falling from Kai's eyes as she sobbed into Keiko's shoulder as they held each other closely.

Kai moved her head away from Keiko just in time to see a shadow dart towards them. Kai led out a loud scream as she tried to pull Keiko away. The shadow followed Kai as she scrambled to get away. Keiko's eyes widened and he ran after Kai, he jumped in front of her, shielding her from the shadow.

It slashed through him and in a flash both Keiko and the shadow were gone. Kai stood frozen in her spot with wide eyes before she dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball and screamed out into the sky.

"Keiko!"
-
A few weeks later, Kai sat outside in the courtyard once more, trying her best to stay calm and focus on her meditation. But, the memory of what had happened haunted her and she couldn't escape.

Standing up, Kai brushed off her clothes before turning to head back inside. Strands of her bright red-orange falling out of it's braid as the soft, cooling wind blew through. Kai gave one last glance out at the yard, before shaking her head and then walked back inside.

Waiting on a couch was an older man with graying hair. He looked up from his book when he saw Kai walk inside the room. He offered her a small, saddened smile as he realized what she was thinking of.

"Thinking of your brother again?" The man asked Kai as she sat down on a leather chair across from him. She pulled her legs up into the chair and pulled them up to her chest. Kai simple gave a nod in response to her father's question.

"Kai, I know this is hard, bu-"

The father was cut off by an explosion of magic and Kai was tossed to the ground. Kai laid there unconscious for about an hour before her eyes slowly cracked open. As she looked around at what was once the living room of her family's training house, was now a bunch of ruins.

Lying in a puddle of blood and badly burnt, was Kai's father. Her eyes widened as she stood frozen in place. She could sense the magic used to do this and it was then that she made her vow.

"I will make sure that your deaths weren't in vain!" Kai cried out as she moved to leave the room. Not knowing where to go, Kai just headed out into the streets. She gave a glance back at the ruins of the training house before moving on.

"You will be avenged, both you and Keiko."