~ Episode One ~

There Once was a Girl:

The Destiny of a Monster Sealer

Eri Seruma shot awake with a cold sweat overpowering her fair skin. But everything was all right. She was safe and sound in her bedroom. There were no mystic knights at her side. Her room was no part of any decrepit church.

There was no hooded boogeyman waiting at the foot of her bed.

And most importantly, she was no longer stuck in the dark ages—but back where she belonged at the turn of the millennium. The year 2000.

“That dream again…” It was the same dream that had haunted her almost nightly over the past month. Relentless. So vivid … and always with it, the tendrils of a dull headache and vertigo.

Eri groaned through a flourish of fresh tummy pains that accompanied the headache and leaned over the only exposed side of her bed. She nabbed a plush toy off the hardwood floor, discarded in the night.

The stuffed doll was a skunk named Regina Lepue—a character from Eri’s favorite series of books. It had been a birthday present from her best friend, Mackenzie, the year before. She flopped back against the mattress and hoisted the doll above her to make it do a happy little dance in her hands. She glanced at her reflection in the closet mirrors at the foot of the bed and sighed.

Eri was thirteen years old and, despite toting features that were soft and round, was often cited as ‘skinnier than a toothpick’ by her father. Her bright, jaw-length, ginger hair helped bring out the paleness of her skin – which, in combination with her impossibly natural apple-red irises, had some of the kids in the schoolyard convinced she was a vampire.

It was an assumption that was the bane of Eri’s existence.

For now, at least.

~

“Eddi-chan! Right on time, as to be expected!” Mackenzie Thompson beamed from the top step of her veranda as the wintry morning air danced with her long blue-black hair. She flicked away the butt of her cigarette and skipped down the steps to meet Eri at the curb. “I guess that makes sense. Your dad being in the military, and all.”

“Ma-a-a-acks! Don’t call me that!” Eri wandered up Simcoe Road, towards the string of rental townhouses, where Mackenzie lived with her mother.

“Why not? It’s kawaii, just like you.” Mackenzie flashed a toothy grin up at Eri and wrapped an unzipped winter jacket around herself.

Mackenzie was fourteen and stood at a whopping four-foot-six, compared to Eri’s own five-foot-one stature. She was easily the shortest girl in their eighth-grade class and was perhaps a little heavier than she would have personally liked. But whatever Mackenzie lacked in height and slenderness she easily made up for with an expert skill in makeup that far surpassed her classmates, alongside a brazen personality to match a refined sense of style that rarely saw her in anything other than dark skirts and nylons, button-down blouses, and a trademark navy blue cardigan that nearly swallowed her whole.

The girls had been best friends since the seventh grade. Mackenzie was an inspiration to Eri in nearly every way. And in turn, Mackenzie adored Eri more than anything in the world.

Together the girls started a blustery trek towards Holland Court, where the library awaited behind the back lot of a nearby funeral parlor. “You feeling any better?”

“I guess,” said Eri, shifting a rolled up Bristol board that housed their school history project under one arm. “Got another headache and my stomach still kinda kills. Macks—I had that weird dream again last night.”

“The one with those knights or whatever?”

“Mmhm. And the faceless guy in the hood…”

Mackenzie studied Eri with deep worry behind yellow-amber eyes. “Maybe lay off the video games, huh? You’re like obsessed.”

“You’re one to talk, with all that anime you watch.”

“I’m serious, Eddi-chan. Did you get any sleep last night? You look exhausted...”

Eri scowled. “I’ve been stuck on this stupid boss fight in Final Fantasy II for ages. I just wanna get through it so I can watch Noah play the new one…”

“Eight, right? What about three-through-seven?”

“Oh, I beat III already, a while ago. Four, five, and six weren’t released here. But I did beat Mystic Quest. Have to restart VII—but that’s okay, I already saw the ending—” Eri counted the games off one-by-one by her mitten-clad fingers. “—The ones on Game Boy are just too confusing except for Adventure; I don’t like the Legend series much, so those ones don’t count.”

“And you say I’m a nerd,” Mackenzie said, incredulous. “Your brother’s probably gonna beat it before you ever get that far. You got nothing to prove to him, you know…”

Eri kept a firm stare locked along their snowy path.

“I know,” she said.

Mackenzie sighed. “Your dad got that movie for us, right?”

“Yep.” Eri shifted a better grip around the Bristol board under her arm. “Hopefully we can pad stuff out with it. This Dirty Thirties thing Ms. Youse dumped on us is just so boring…”

“Seriously—I never wanted to die sooner. It’s like she gets off on pushing all these projects on us or something. Anyway, so long as we work real hard, I smell an A-plus!”

“Hope so. She says she’s getting us ready for high school, though…”

“Oh, sure. That’s why.” Mackenzie snorted. “Next thing you know, she’ll wanna keep us in at recess, because that’s how high school is.”

“Ugh. Don’t say that.” Eri wrinkled her nose as they turned the corner onto Holland Court, where Shorebrooke’s public library awaited. “So weird that Shinji and Evan wanted to meet up today. They like never talk to us…”

“Speak for yourself,” Mackenzie said. “Shinji’s always staring at you in class, you know.”

An uncomfortable shiver went through Eri. She knew. “…So?”

“Maybe he wants to ask you out. It’s about time, honestly.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Are you serious, Eddi-chan?” Mackenzie nudged her affectionately. “It’s so obvious you have a thing for him.”

Eri wrinkled her nose, unable to process the thought. “I do not…”

~

“…So my choir teacher, is like, ‘Evan, what the hell are you doing to your nose?’ and I can’t say anything, ‘cause I’m in so much pain, you know?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well you know what it’s like when you drink a soda, and when you burp, you get the fizzy feeling in your nose?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And she’s just staring at me like—Shinji! Are you even listening?”

Shinji Izuma blinked a couple of times and glanced up from photocopied images of World War II fighter jets and Hiroshima bombings carefully-arranged around the Bristol board he worked on.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“What did you say?” he asked, brushing locks of brown hair out of his emerald-colored eyes.

“Aw, forget it,” grumbled his best friend Evan from across the table – doing nothing of real productivity, as usual. “You really gotta stop being so … focused all the time!”

Shinji blinked again. “I don’t understand.”

“If you’re not thinking to yourself, you’re talking to yourself!” Evan leaned elbows against the table and studied one of the photos that depicted a small row of Japanese soldiers standing at attention before a fenced-off wheat field. Idle fingers itched at a diagonal scar across his dark-skinned cheek. “Doesn’t all this bother you?”

“What? You not doing your share of the work? Sure.”

“No, I mean this project. Of all the things to make a report on, Youse stuck us with Hiroshima.”

“So?” Shinji tugged the cap off a glue stick and guided it around the backside of some foolscap.

“I’unno, with you being Japanese, and all…”

“Half,” Shinji corrected him.

“Half-Japanese, whatever.” Evan studied his friend’s handiwork behind sleepy aquamarine irises “What’s the other half?”

“German.”

“Wait, for real?” When Shinji didn’t react or elaborate, Evan burst out laughing. So hard in fact, he nearly fell out of his chair. “Seriously, you’re Japanese and German?! Yo, man, that su-u-u-ucks!”

“If you say so,” Shinji said, barely paying attention. “Anyway—they’re here.”

Evan perked to attention. He glanced over a shoulder, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and spotted two girls in the library’s lobby. Mackenzie Thompson shuffled off small remainders of snow from the bottoms of her shoes while Eri Seruma undid the ties of her knitted Hello Kitty winter hat. “Oh man. I don’t think I’m ready for this…”

“Well, get ready,” Shinji said. “We can’t wait any longer to secure the Child of Destiny. The Black King is getting ready to strike again, I just know it. We have to make our move while things are still on the down low. It’s now or never.”

“This plan though, man – I got a bad feeling about it. Really think we should tell her, instead of—”

“Hiya!” chirped Mackenzie as she and Eri came up behind Evan. She ruffled up the tight curls of his flat-top hairstyle. “Sorry we’re late!”

“Hello, Thompson. No problem.” Shinji said. He nodded past her. “Seruma.”

Eri quietly waved at him.

“Are you guys ready to fail Youse’s project?” Mackenzie asked. Evan struggled to bat her away from an onslaught of dual-fisted noogies, to no avail. “What are you working on, anyway?”

“Hiroshima,” said Shinji, back to work.

“He-e-ey!—Seriously! Yo! Give it a rest, man!” Evan begged. “Quit it!”

“What did you call me?!” Mackenzie smacked Evan over the head with the flat of her palm. “Ba—kaaa!”

“Oww! Chill! It’s just an expression!”

“What did you call him?” Shinji asked her.

“Baka,” said Mackenzie, surprised by the question. “You know! It means idiot in Japanese?”

Shinji stared at her. “Uh … Why are you calling Evan an idiot in Japanese?”

“Oh! Well, I watch anime with the subtitles – I’m trying to learn the language, so … hey, um, do you think you could teach me some time?”

“What? Japanese? I don’t know it, myself,” Shinji admitted. “I mean – I was raised in an English household.”

“What?! Seriously?” This was like blasphemy to Mackenzie. “You’re Japanese and you don’t know how to speak Japanese?!”

He glared at her. “Am I supposed to?”

“Half-Japanese, actually!” Evan supplied. “Other half’s German! What’s the big deal, anyway? My dad’s Trini and almost everyone in the Caribbean speaks English.”

“So?! That’s different!” Mackenzie said.

“Is it, though?”

“Isn’t your mom from Quebec?” Shinji asked him.

“Oh, yeah!” Evan said, almost like he’d completely forgotten. “ ‘Kenzie! I could tutor you in French, if you want!”

“Yuck! No, thanks.”

Eri snuck by them with her Dirty Thirties Bristol board. She could feel Shinji staring and did her best to ignore him, instead focusing on where to make camp at the table.

Mackenzie swooped in to scan the resources Shinji and Evan brought for their own project.

“Ooooh. Looks like you guys got your work cut out for you! Now, before you both get distracted by the immaculate presence of girls, we have some stuff to grab.” She winked at a confused Shinji and nabbed Eri by the elbow. “C’mon, Eddi-chan!”

Eri gulped, letting herself be led away to a section of shelves marked Canadian History.

Mackenzie swayed against her with an impish grin. “Your face is all red…”

Eri broke away to flit among the array of titles for the right resource tome. “Stop it. I don’t have a crush on Shinji.”

“Oh, come on, hon. It’s super adorable how you act around him.” Mackenzie leaned against the opposite bookcase and stared out at the distant table where the boys sat. “Maybe today’s your lucky day?”

Eri frowned. She found a worn-down spine that read CANADA AND THE 1930s and plucked the book free. “Don’t get your hopes up, Macks.”

The truth couldn’t be denied, however: Eri felt awkward around Shinji – but not for the reason Mackenzie assumed. Whenever he looked Eri’s way in class or recess, feelings of anxiety ripped through her like clockwork. Eri couldn’t grasp why – it wasn’t like either of them were close anymore, not like when they were younger.

These days, any feelings of adoration she had once felt for Shinji had since rotted into dread whenever he paid attention to her at a distance.

And it seemed like Shinji was paying attention to her a whole lot more these days.

When the girls returned to the table, Evan launched into a conversation about weird weather patterns around town. “So! How about that snowstorm last week? Crazy stuff, huh?”

“There’s always a snowstorm at the start of April,” said Mackenzie. “And it’s snowing outside right now.” She slyly slid into the spot next to him – leaving Eri the only other available chair next to Shinji.

Eri mentally groaned.

“You guys have it lucky. All you gotta worry about is weather.” Mackenzie frowned. “And maybe showering more than once a week—Hey, Eri, remember that night we were waiting outside the Multicultural Center for your folks to pick us up after Battle of the Bands? And you kept feeling like we were being watched, but like, no one was there?”

“Uh-huh…” Eri rubbed her temples in discomfort, trying to focus on the open textbook before her. She could feel another headache starting to form. It pulsated in a way she feared might lance out of her forehead, like a unicorn’s horn. She winced.

“Hey, man, are you all right?” asked Evan.

“Just another migraine. My stomach hurts, too.”

“Migraine?” Shinji echoed. “I didn’t know you had those.”

“I’m fine, just haven’t been sleeping well. Bad dreams and my brother likes to play his drums at night.” She got up from the table. “I need some water. Be right back.”

Mackenzie watched Eri leave, half-risen out of her own seat and ready to follow if needed. But Evan’s voice called her back.

“How long has she been having those for?”

“Huh? Oh, migraines? I dunno – they’re new. Wanna say about a month, I guess?”

“A month,” Shinji murmured. “That lines up.”

Mackenzie settled back into her seat, brow furrowed. “…Lines up with what?”

A thud sounded under the table. Evan grunted in pain and flashed a glare at Shinji.

“Excuse us,” Shinji murmured. The boys both pushed out of their chairs.

“Where are you going?!”

“Bathroom,” Evan said.

“Research,” Shinji assured.

Evan cleared his throat. “…In the bathroom.”

Mackenzie stared at them with a raised eyebrow.

Shinji sighed, leading Evan away to the far end of the library. “We’ll be back.”

They passed Eri by, bent over the water fountain, and vanished into the men’s washroom.

“Weirdoes,” muttered Mackenzie. When Eri returned she asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I—”

A sudden tremor rippled through the study area. It shook the windowpanes and made the light fixtures flicker. A flourish of surprised gasps and outcries poured from all present in the library that morning. Those who used the quiet rooms for school work poked their heads out the doors with murmured concern.

Just then, Borrower’s Services blew to kingdom come with a shock-wave that sent everything flying, raining debris.

Eri crawled across the floor, unable to parse through a bleary double-vision amidst the fallen bookcases and overturned tables. Her temples throbbed with such agony, she wondered if her head might have split open when the girls were thrown to the floor.

Mackenzie’s arms found her. Eri rolled in her embrace in time to come face-to-face with a massive serpent-like creature emerging from the clouds of destruction. Its head nearly scraped the library’s ceiling. It stared at Eri with eyes like an insect that glowed crimson against the ruinous smog.

“Shinji, we got company!!” Evan appeared within the din, spinning a weird-looking pitchfork weapon like a baton double his own size.

Shinji darted into view wielding what looked like some ancient sword. He headed straight towards the girls. “Take care of Nagamani! I’ll protect the Child of Destiny!”

Mackenzie croaked on the verge of hysterics. “E-Eddi-chan, you’re seeing this, right?”

Eri did see it. She saw all of it, and watched in confused horror as the twenty-foot stone snake lurched from the smog and barreled down upon Evan.