[h1]Our Journey So Far…[/h1]

[center][h3]Prologue[/h3][hr][/center]

[indent][indent][indent][i][color=20b2aa][b]Kai[/b], the Sea-Faring Boy with Oceanic Eyes[/color]

[right][color=aquamarine][b]Aira[/b], the Girl Who Smells of Sunflowers[/color][/right][/i]

Friends for as long as they could remember, Kai and Aira grew up with each other in adjacent houses. Their families were friends long before their birth, so even before they knew it, they were destined to be the best of friends. With such a close bond, when they finally were able to meet in the physical world, it was almost instant that their friendship blossomed into something truly magical. Their hearts bonded and they developed a deep caring for each other.

And it was this bond that they became a packaged deal. Though they didn’t realize it, their two dreams were connected in some way, though the exact reason for that still remains unknown. They woke up from a strange dream in their own way. Kai’s dream had him receive a warning about an impending doom that would soon fall upon his world, while Aira experienced a dream that dealt with her running away from a darkness, though no matter where she ran, it followed and consumed her. When they woke up, both of them were brought to reality differently. Kai received a loud awakening call as his head met the wooden foundation of the bunk bed he shared with his brother and Aira simply woke up as if nothing had happened, yet they couldn’t shake this feeling of something larger at play.

When Kai had made his way to the beach, along the way, he thought he saw something - or someone - near the entrance of the Underground Concourse. He shook this feeling off, of course, as he made his way to the beach so he could meet with Aira. She herself was feeling as if things hadn’t been the same since waking up from her own dream. She, of course, wouldn’t show this to Kai because if he had seen her anything but her usually cheery self, he would worry. But, as it would turn out, their conversation following their initial greetings, ended up being about the very thing she didn’t want to worry him about.

They told each other about their dreams and how it seemed like they were in the same realm and were oddly similar to one another. It wasn’t entirely the same, but they appeared to be connected in some way. 

After trying to figure this out, it was Kai who would, yet again, seem to hallucinate about something. He saw the sea in front of him turn black, the skies grow dark, and the circular sun change its shape into a heart and it had a more pinkish shade as opposed to the usual red/orange scheme. The sight disappeared as soon as it had appeared, but that wasn’t the same for what Kai saw in his mind and what he was feeling thereafter.

He took a few moments to process it, asked Aira about it (to which she seemed confused), but he eventually let it go. Instead, he chose to focus on something else - like surfing and getting Berry Jelly dogs. Though the latter wasn’t denied, Aira had a different idea, which was quite uncharacteristic of her. Usually, she loved playing in the water as Kai surfed, but she felt like being Aira, the Explorer today. And much to Kai’s initial disappointment, he submitted himself to this new experience. 

When she told him of the destination for today’s exploration, the Underground Concourse, Kai was more than willing to explore that place. He had an additional motivation to go through with it because of what he had seen earlier. Though, as they stepped into it, he heard a voice speak out to him. It wasn’t until later on when they had properly removed themselves from the town’s noise and were in the tunnels, that the reason was revealed…

Kai and Aira’s life was put in danger as these shadow figures with little, black bodies and yellow eyes rose up from the ground and surrounded the duo. Out of instinct alone, Kai put Aira behind him as he took his struggle bat and promised to protect her. His efforts were no good as the bat went straight through the creature. In turn, the shadow creature struck Kai and sent the teen back a few paces. Desperate, Kai was about to go back for round two. Just before he did, he heard a voice call out to him. After a brief conversation, his resolve to protect Aira in every single way that he could was confirmed. As a result, he was gifted a weird sword shaped like a key. It resembled his surfboard and the colors of the ocean. It was with this that he not only was able to protect Aira like he wanted to in the first place, the blade proved to be the only thing that was able to vanquish the shadow creatures back to their place of origin.

As Kai looked upon her face with gusto, he was overcome with a sense of relief as he had done what he had set out to do: protect Aira at all costs.

Later the same day, Kai and Aira had went home to try and relax. Tomorrow was looking like it was going to be a good day. And after everything that happened in the Underground Concourse, both Kai and Aira just wanted to forget and enjoy the time they could with each other and their respective families. However, it seemed as though that wasn’t in the cards for them because, not long after Kai had went down for a nap, he was awoken by a terrible, terrible scream. This was, of course the sounds of his family members.

Immediately, Kai went to check it out. To his surprise, he saw the sights of the same, shadowy creatures from before. His first instinct was to make sure his family was okay. They were unharmed, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be like that for long. Those creatures were pinpointed on them, so Kai created a diversion so they could escape. IT worked because they were on him. Kai dealt with these creatures in a swift manner. After it was all said and done, Kai was on  high alert. When he stepped outside of his house, he saw everything was darker than night usually made it and it was crawling with the same creatures from before. In his desperation, he went to Aira’s hosue. 

And as Kai entered her house, he was too late. She was just seconds away from being absorbed into a portal of what looked like darkness. The only thing he saw was the sight of a pink-haired girl with a scythe and Aira’s desperate plea to Kai.
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[center][h3]Chapter I - As Dusk Falls, Dawn Traversed Through[/h3][hr][/center]
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