A peacefull day, like any other, that's what I thought when I woke up in the morning.

About myself, there's not much to tell, I'm 17 years old living in Western Europe in a small village in the foothills of a large mountain range. You could say, the last hundred years went by without changing anything, well, almost, we have mighty telephones now, shaky mobile phone-reception but no Internet and no bus lanes or anything.

So, what can one do when there is nothing to do and not really a chance to get anywhere without parental consent? Well, for me, it's reading whatever I can get my hands on, giving me tons of useless knowledge, horseback-riding cause the parents of one of the other teenagers in the village own a stable and martial arts, cause the mother of the third teenager is an accomplised martial artist and it's quite fun to learn from her togehter with her daughter. Other than that, I sometimes go running, mountain biking and rock climbing. Sounds fun?

After I mentioned the other two teenagers I should introduce them a bit.

First, there is Jenny Miller, 16 years old, blonde and quite cute. Nothing outrageous, simply cute. Her parents, or rather grandparents, own a stable where I help with the work and in return I was taught tons of knowledge regarding riding, horses and a bit of farming.

Then there is the half-japanese Akane Tachibana with the martial artist mother. Funny enough, the japanese half is from her father, former banker and filthy rich. Her father fell in love with her mother and moved out her to escape the pressure in the city. Her mother is quite a bit younger than her father and some gossip monger blab that she only married for the money but everyone who sees them interact knows different, they are a great couple.

Akane is 17, just like me, and we've spent more time together than appart, growing up like siblings and best friends, knowing everything about each other and trusting each other no matter what. That was something my girlfriend was a bit confused about at first, that there is another girl in my life, not blood related but closer than a sibling, more like a part of me, I'd rather seperate from an arm than from Akane but there is no romance between us and there never will be.

Her mother teaches me and her daugther in martial arts but not as a sport, as a way of life, the whole bushido-stuff, honor, patience and so on. Hand to hand combat is only a small part of it, also combat with weapons and meditation. Sadly I'm rather bad with a sword, that's Akanes style, mostly a single longsword but she can also work with daggers and anything in between. I'm more of a polearm-guy, no matter weather it's a staff, a spear, a glaive or even exotic stuff like halberds or scythes, as long as the weapon is bigger than me chances are I'm good with it.

Well, that sould be enough about my circumstances, now, back to waking up...

First order of the day is my morning run, 45minutes jogging up and down the hills, then feeding the horses at the Miller-Stable and aftherwards a shower and breakfast. Then the girls and me are driven down into town by one of our parents to get to school to our daily fight with boredom. Mainly boredom because it's easy. Not that I'm super smart or anything but when you can only choose between sports and studying you end up with a lot of time studying simply because you can only do so much sport a day before you are tired. So I get good grades, making me happy and my parents happy. After school, Akane and me have to wait for Jenny who got afternoon classes today, so our parents can ferry us back home in one haul. Checking my mobile I see an message from my girlfriend calling me to our spot, a secluded section of a local park where we often meet up.

"Akane, I'll be back in a bit, Susie wants to meet up."

"'Kay, I'll be right here, don't get wet, it looks like it'll rain soon."

And of we go, out of the school and truly the sky is overcast and it looks like it'll be a downpour. Hopefully not up in our village or it'll be a chore to clean up the horses, they love to roll in the mud.

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Thinking about random stuff I arrive at the park and meet up with Susie, she looks a quite a bit upset.

"Hey Sam, you know we've been dating for over a year now..."

"Hey Susie, of course I know, five weeks ago we had our "One Year Anniversary", not even I could forget something like that so fast."

"Yes, but somehow we see each other less and less, I've been thinking about us again and again..."

I'm getting a bit scared at this point, I thought we were doing great, I even got my parents to get me from town at night time once a week so we can go out together.

"What do you want to say with this?"

Suddenly she starts screaming

"I'm saying that you are a boorish, rural farmboy and I don't want to see you ever again!"

With this, she turns around and leaves

...

I'm standing there with a hearthwrenching feeling in my chest and for the first time in my life I realize that getting one's heart broken is truly painfull. No idea how long, but I'm getting cold and wet. Why am I wet? Coming back to my senses I realize that it started raining and by the look of my clothes it started a while ago. A look on my watch tells me that it's past time for meeting up with the others to get home. Turning around I start walking, looking but not seeing anything, walking back towards school and our meeting point.

"Sam!

Hey, Sam!

Mister Samuel Smith, I'm talking with you"

Coming a bit back to my senses, I realize that Akane stopped me and looks at me, looking as if she saw a ghost.

"Sam, what the hell happend you look like three days dead and buried"

"I...

I'm fine, let's get going, we can't keep your mother waiting, can we?"

"You are drenched and we were already waiting for a while, I doubt it matters now. What happened, I thought you were with Susie."

At this I cringe and try to get walking again.

"Oh god dammit Sam, did the two of you get into a fight? What happend?"

Still trying to walk away she simply pulls me into a hug with no regard that she'll propably get as wet as I am. But in her embrace I can let go a bit and start crying. I don't know how long we stood there but after she releases me, her mother helps her to towel me of a bit and gets me into the car for our ride home.

I'm still not completly myself but with a bit of prodding, pushing and gentle guidance the Tachibana-Mother Daugther Combo gets me into the shower and in a new set of clothes.

After seeing me, Mister Tachibana made me a cup of coffee and sent the two ladys out, guessing that I'd like some peace to collect myself without them seeing me, warriors honor and stuff like that. I don't see why it matters but I'm gratefull non the less. After the coffee and feeling almost human again, I tell him that I'll go meditating on a meadow not far from our village to collect my thoughts and get myself into working conditions again. Up here, the mountains protected us from the rain and clouds so it's a beatifull day

Without seeing Akane or her Mother I leave their house and start running up the hills, into the forest and on a path almost no one takes it's only me and sometimes animals. After arriving at the meadow I sit down on crosslegged and start emptying my mind submerging myself in a sphere of pure nothingness, centering me and feeling peace.

Suddenly there is a white light around me and my eyes snap open, the rock is surrounded by a strange glowing circle. I try to get up and away but the instant I step in the ground within the circle there is a flash of light, blinding me and I'm falling...

Then, nothing