A calm and peaceful night, zero clouds in the sky to obstruct the marvellous spectacle of the natural night sky.
Floating against this backdrop was a floating island and Sitting on the edge of a cliff at the very edge of the floating island was an old man.
This old man was the picturesque image of a sage, dressed in a black and gold attire that matched his image perfectly, grey hair and a matching coloured beard sat atop a fine, time-worn face, deep black eyes that seemed like they could see through all the secrets of the universe gazed down, through the mists and onto the surface of Mundus.
A warm and welcoming but mysterious and knowledgeable Aura surrounded the old man as he sat, seemingly contemplating something.
All of a sudden, a fierce gust of wind blew across the old man's face, causing a slight smile to emerge.
“Hello, Quetzal, why have you come to visit this old man on this fine night,” said the old man in a warm, almost joking tone.
Behind the old man, Quetzalcoatl had suddenly appeared.
“Kirin, Zuma has fallen unconscious again, this is the third time this month, and, he’s been unconscious for two whole days already, what are we going to do?” Quetzalcoatl asks causing the old man to look up but not turn around and face her, his slight smile turning into a neutral expression.
“Is the seal still Functioning” Kirin replies
“yes, but barely, Zuma’s condition is just getting worse and I’m not sure how much longer the seal will help” Quetzal responds.
For a few seconds, a deathly silence emerged between the two until Kirin suddenly looked up at the stars and sighed.
“Perhaps it’s time, we should send them down to the surface,” Kirin said causing Quetzal to take a few steps back, her jaw-dropping in shock before she just sighed.
Quetzalcoatl walked up and sat next to Kirin,
“Is there really no other way?” Quetzal asked
“I genuinely don’t know, something masks their presence from me, it makes it nearly impossible to read their karma and predict their fates” Kirin replied.
Quetzalcoatl frowned at Kirin, Kirin is a Qilin, a rather elusive dragon species that virtually vanished from Mundus after the end of the War for Supremacy 10 000 years ago and is often associated with either the birth or death of an illustrious ruler or wise sage, the reason they are able to do this is because the Qilin are specialists at reading the flow of Karma and Fate.
However, like most future Seers, they were often very vague when talking about it and would frequently omit parts of or even all of a person's destiny if they felt it necessary.
This naturally made it hard for Quetzalcoatl to take Kirin seriously when he said that he couldn’t predict Zuma and Lily’s fates but after staring at him for a little under a minute and seeing that Kirin wasn’t going to say anything else, she just sighed.
“So, what should we do?” Quetzalcoatl asked, her eyes showing clear signs of worry at this new proposal.
“Well, Zuma is twelve and Lily just turned nine, isn’t now the perfect time to enrol them into school” Kirin replied.
For the next few minutes, they once more sat in silence as Quetzalcoatl thought about what Kirin just said.
The surface was a dangerous place and both Quetzalcoatl and Kirin understood that better than many as survivors of the War for Supremacy that occurred 10 000 years ago.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Now Quetzalcoatl and Kirin both knew that the day when Zuma and Lily needed to go to the surface would eventually arrive and tried their best to prepare them, but they both thought that there would be more time and as such, were barely even 1/1000th through what they originally wanted to teach them.
A school would be a good place for Zuma and Lily to learn without there being too much danger, and they could also gain many unique experiences that couldn’t be gained on the floating island.
“Very well, if that is what you believe needs to be done, then I won’t stand in its way, but it better be a powerful and prestigious school, I expect no less for my two children” Quetzalcoatl stated
“Oh, don’t worry, I have just the school in mind” Kirin replied with a small smile as a gust of wind suddenly surrounded Quetzalcoatl, an instant later, she disappeared. “The surface of Mundus, A place in which every being from every mythology exists, I wonder, what kind of adventures do you have in store for our little children, I honestly can’t wait to find out.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Zuma’s eyes suddenly sprung open, every single muscle in his body was sore and for the first few seconds, after he awoke, all the bones in his body felt like they had just been ground into dust.
An unfamiliar landscape surrounded him, an endless white expanse that stretched out as far as the eye could see.
“Hey, Kiddo, it has been what, 5 – 6 years since we last talked,” said a mysterious male voice, catching Zuma completely off guard and causing him to spring up, completely forgetting about all the pain his body was currently feeling as he stared, wide-eyed in shock.
A young man in his late teens, crimson red eyes and hair that has bangs falling over the top of his face and a long ponytail that reaches past his waist. He was dressed in red and orange sleeveless armour that more closely resembled feminine clothing.
“you, you, you, you’re” Zuma mumbles
“dead, technically, yes, yes I am,” The mysterious man interrupts
“But, but how”
“how am I here, I’m not entirely sure, anyway, we summoned you here because we wanted to give you something,” The mysterious man says while shrugging his shoulders.
“We!” Zuma shouted, taking a few steps back in response, catching the man slightly off guard
“the others did genuinely want to see you again, but with the current circumstances, we thought that it would be best if only one of us met you, and I was the one that was selected” The mysterious man stated, his voice in a noticeably more sympathetic tone then before.
“the others, ugh?” Zuma begins to say until a splitting headache overtook him, slight flashes of memories that he couldn’t remember appearing suddenly in his head.
“you shouldn’t try to remember, what occurred on that dreadful night is better off forgotten for now, and besides, you might awaken," the mysterious man said when all of a sudden, the hairs on their bodies stood up and a chill went down both of their spines.
Ominous primordial energy that was neither good nor evil filled the air as the ground beneath their feet turned into an endless ocean.
Zuma looked down at the depths of the ocean if you could even call it that as what Zuma saw was closer to an endless abyss.
The surface was completely tranquil, with no signs of ripples, waves or currents and beneath, there was nothing but an endless expanse of water, No light managed to penetrate the surface turning what was beneath into a black void, a deafening silence that would drive anyone mad echoing out from the depths.
Yet somehow, Zuma entranced by this ocean, the ominous energy calling him to dive down into its greatest depths when suddenly, he felt something on his shoulder, shattering the ocean's spell.
“What was that?” Zuma asked, deep sweat forming on his face.
“we’re not entirely sure, it’s been a part of you since that terrible night, but it normally lies dormant, though you being here and trying to remember about that night seems to be stirring it “
The Ocean started to fade away as the room returned to its normal white expanse through an overwhelming sense of tiredness fell over Zuma.
“It seems like we’re running out of time, you’ll awaken soon, and we wanted to give you something,” The mysterious man stated as he held out his hand to reveal something.
A small translucent orb no bigger than a marble, but when Zuma gazed into it, he could see a flame in every shade of every colour imaginable including black, white and grey, it was constantly shifting between a flickering kindling and a raging inferno.
“What is it?” Zuma asked, not entirely sure about what he was seeing.
“A Light to guide you through the Darkness, it also comes with this message: don’t stop moving forward, it will be tough, there will be many obstacles to overcome and hardships to endure, but don’t let them change nor define you, become something more than what they wanted you to be, tread the path you wish to follow and always remember, that we are always watching you”
The orb floated and merged into Zuma’s skull, disappearing as if it never existed but before Zuma had time to process what happened, the tiredness overwhelmed him and he started to fall unconscious once more, just before he fell asleep, he managed to catch a genuine smile on the mysterious mans face.