It's a sunny day, and the sounds of music and children laughing can be heard from almost every street in the city. Streamers and confetti hang and fall from every building as people dance and march together through the streets. The smell of cooked Toad-dragon, and Tiger-jelly fill the air. Today is the day we celebrate the new Ascendants and the end of the Erah season. Unfortunately, I didn't ascend but I can hear my mom downstairs making me and my little sister breakfast to cheer me up.
“Koa! Come downstairs! You haven’t eaten, and you promised to take your little sister to see the Ascendant Festival today, don't forget!”.
“I promise, Mom. Gotta go!”
“Koa! Don’t go and get in any trouble!”
Koa jumped from his room window on the second floor down to the street below, determined to get a sneak peak at the opening ceremony while he had the freedom to move about as he pleased. The burden of having to take his irritatingly impatient yet clumsy sister weighed heavily on him. The thought alone was tolerable at best. He figured the best route would be straight through the nearby market plaza where all the locals shopped. He makes his way to plaza and turns into a nearby alley way to avoid Old Man Rucker, one of his mom friends who always hassled him for work.
As he quickly turned into the alley he couldn’t help but notice once again that his neighborhood was always riddled with trash. So much so that he toke pause. For a moment he simply watched as a bag blew in the wind. Oddly captivated, he watched the air blow it around and felt a sense of relatability.
He thought himself to be just like that bag. A forgotten piece of society thrown away, no match for the forces that move it about. Poetically free, but…Not really.
His thoughts continued to wander until that same bag caught ahold of his foot. It was common to step in trash inside the 3rd ring. He shakes the bag off without thought and looks for a good spot to climb thinking perhaps, that even for a moment he could escape the reminders of this forgotten society he called home.
He quickly scaled an abandoned shop not to far from his house. It was there he could easily see the separation that befell his home. The city was divided into four rings. He turned to the west and saw the 1st ring as it had stood the tallest. It was a home to the rich and royal, but to Koa it was another world completely.
He'd never been outside of the 3rd ring aside from the 2nd ring, where his mother would take him only on special occasion for birthdays every couple of years. It was a place for the middle class that only got nicer the closer you ventured towards the 1st ring. He had never ventured that far of course, but heard stories from his friends who claimed to have seen the 1st ring wall up close. He put his head down and looked to his left. Regrettably it wasn't hard to miss the walls that surrounded the 3rd ring where he lived.
He stared down into the streets.The feeling of disappointment infiltrated his mind so much that even on a day of celebration like this, he couldn’t find much to celebrate. His community lacked the necessary resources to ensure proper education or employment beyond a torn magazine or harsh labor. He above all knew that thoughts was his only safe haven, he wished he could escape this place…
As far he was concerned it was like living in a crab barrel. His attention turns to a guy being arrested in the streets. Thinking nothing of it, Koa was for sure that it was just the guards making an example of another 3rd ring citizen. He was even willing to bet that the guy being arrested would be transferred to the 4th ring, a prison for Atowan fugitives.
Not to far from the crime scene he saw a produce cart with an unguarded basket of apples. Perhaps what he was about to do next was just his way of sticking it too a system that didn't care about him. He quickly descended from the building before snatching a apple in stride, but not without the leery eye of a nearby guard watching his every step.
"Hey, you!" The guard yelled, as he had already flung himself from his post in full stride.
"Get back here!"
The guard was rather large at best moderately fast.
Koa thought to himself.”Ha! He'll never catch me, no sweat."
Koa yelled over his shoulder, "Catch me if you can!" taunting the guard.
He ran as fast as he could, and at first opportunity took a cutting path straight through the RingSquare, fully undertaking the risk he might collide head on with a passing cart.
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"Smh..I'll definitely lose them here."
After a few narrow misses and high chance collisions with passerby townsfolk, Koa had finally caught his second wind and rounded the corner by the local Chapel. He turns to look over his shoulder, not too surprised that he had lost the guard.
"Looks like I lost them, but I have to be sure…Can't have them sneaking up on me."
He slows to a jog, aiming for a place to hide until he could be sure the coast was clear. He knows he has to to move back the direction from which he came as the festival parade was soon to start. His attention turns to an abandoned street cart that looked to be just the place to hide behind as it left about a body's width between it and the wall of the building behind it.
As he squeezed himself in and crouched behind the wheel, he took a look at the apple he had snatched, noticing the sweet aroma given off, arousing his appetite. Before he could take a bite, a man donning a peculiarly crafted cloak glided past just feet away. The ominous aura given off alerted his gut instinct to scurry back home, but at the same time, curiosity had him more interested as to who he was and where he was going. Never had he seen such a figure in this town, and never had such a material been donned by any local or the average visitor.
Koa decides to follow the stranger, of course being mindful to stay out of sight. The stranger cuts right into an alley where Koa sees him meeting with an even stranger individual. He couldn’t get a good look at their faces, but he noticed that the one he followed had a tail like a serpent. Koa did well to remain hidden and was just close enough to hear their conversation.
"Did you bring it, my child?" said the stranger man.
"Of course, Master..”
"You have done well, return to Aamon and let the guard know that today is the day I achieve divinity.”
"Yes, master, and what do you wish to do with our little spy?"
”Kill him, if you must. It makes no difference to me.”
“Yes, master.”
The tailed man eyes immediately snapped in the direction of Koa, staring him down. Koa gasped, realizing he was spotted and quickly turned to run away. He made his way back towards the Ringsquare with the tailed man right on his heels chasing him through the streets. Heart pounding, he sees an opportunity and slides into an open basement window. He hides there, confident that he had gotten away.
That confidence soon turns into fear when he notices the cloaked figure just across the street, standing and looking dead at him through the basement window. The cloaked figure slowly creeps towards the basement window, licking his jaw with his long snake like tongue. In fear, Koa falls to the floor before running to the door only to discover it’s locked.
Nowhere left to run, he turns around, back pressed heavily against the door. His thoughts scramble, because this time he is sure that he is done for but before the creature could grab the basement window, the sound of the town bells rang through the street.
"This way! This way! Everyone to the safe zone!" said a guard running down the street.
The cloaked serpent stops in his tracks and disappears just before the guards can notice him.
It’s high alert for all the guards on duty as they direct people to evacuate to the safe zone. Koa, confused but relieved, slowly crawls out from the basement, looking left and right before taking off. He dashes through the crowd and can hear the sound of horns being blown from atop the High hills. The Dawn-core flies across the sky into the direction of what he suspected to be some kind of invasion. He knew he had to pick up the pace if he didn’t want his mom to worry.
Before getting even halfway there, the ground begins to shake. He stumbles and looks up to see dark clouds gathering fast above the city. The smell of sulfur fills the air, and a noise that sounds like thunder is heard by everyone.The crowd freezes as the safe zone and a big portion of the 3rd ring is suddenly engulfed in flames. People suddenly began to act strangely as if they were possessed. Citizens rushed towards the flames, having been driven mad and lost their minds.
Koa, somehow unaffected, tried to stop them to no avail. Considering the situation he raced to climb above the chaos to see what had become of his home. He was met with the sight of a giant creature arising from the smoke, cloaked in darkness. The Creature spat fire and its presence vibrated the air. It appeared to be bound by great chains, but the chains were not enough to stop the terrifying roars that sounded like thunder and commanded the air to destroy countless homes.
As the cries of countless citizens echoed through the streets, the creatures body spilled spirits unto the ground below. These spirits terrorized the citizens as fire poured out from the beast, moving like snakes hungry to devour souls. Koa is too terrified to move until he notices his house just offset from the creature.
“Oh no! Mom, and Nova!”
He jumped down from his perch and raced towards his home. He looked to the sky and and saw the cloaked man from earlier standing mid-air before the beast.
He appeared to be chanting a spell that bound the chains tighter, causing them to glow a bright purple. The creature responded to the cloaked man in an unknown language followed by a sinister laugh… Somehow Koa understood it.
“With these chains, I bound you to me, creature! As Eos ties us to your power, I Asrah pull back and make my claim to your name. Your power. Your Dyn.”
“You don’t have enough power to control me mortal, I shall make your death a quick one.”
The creature laughed as it's eyes glowed like fire and the chains bounding it melted to nothing. A battle begins that destroys the Meridian chapel. Koa is almost home. He races to cut one last corner where he notices his mother and little sister standing in the street. He can tell his mother is terrified as she calls out to him.
"Koa! Koa, my baby! Where are you!"
The moment she notices him, she is overjoyed, calling for him to hurry to her side. Time appeared to slow as just within arms reach from each other, an explosion happens.
(BOOMMMM!!!!!!!)
---A bright flash----