Prologue
The year is 1026 After Dragoon. It had been more than a millennium since Melbu Frahma and his plot to revive the Virage Embryo were defeated. Albert returned to his duty as king of Serdio, and Miranda returned to her duties as the Sacred Sister as well. Dart, Shana, Kongol, Meru, and Haschel all worked to wipe out the remaining aberrations created to serve Melbu Frahma's hordes and destroy them during their journey to destroy the Moon Prophecy. With that work done, all the former Dragoons went their separate ways.
Haschel continued without success to find his missing daughter Claire, who was rumored to be Dart's mother as well, though these rumors were never proven. Kongol, being the only of his species left in existence, could not continue the race, which led him to die and the Gigantos to become totally extinct. Meru became an ambassador between the human and Wingly races, which led to a peaceful coexistence for several hundred years until her assassination by a member of a faction that wished the two races separated once more (whether the assassin was human or Wingly, no one knew). With their ambassador dead, the Winglies convinced themselves that there had been a human conspiracy all along and withdrew once again to their enchanted forests.
Dart and Shana were married after the unnatural monster problem was rectified (duh), and raised a family, which everyone expected would be the next generation of Dragoons. However, the Dragoon Spirits showed no reaction to the children. This convinced Dart and Shana that the need for Dragoons had passed, and they destroyed their spirits and convinced the other remaining Dragoons to do so as well. Thus the age of the Dragoons ended.
The river of Time continues to flow, as always, and a new day approaches.
Chapter 1
"Alright, who can tell me the answer to problem 9?"
About a dozen hands shot into the air.
"How about you, Mr. O'Connor?"
Rayen O'Connor was not one of the dozen students that raised their hands, but this did not bother him. Mrs. Harrison was always trying to catch a student off guard. She loved nothing more than reprimanding a student in front of the entire class. But Rayen was ready with the answer he had figured out just as quickly as any of the others. He wouldn't give Mrs. Harrison the enjoyment of publicly embarrassing him, even though it was usually forgotten the next day.
"382," Rayen said, trying to look as indifferent as he could.
"Humph. Very good, Mr. O'Connor," Mrs. Harrison replied with obvious dissatisfaction.
She continued on with the lesson. Rayen listened with the uninterested attention he always gave Mrs. Harrison. He always was this way last period, ready and anxious to get home. His father had called him during lunch period. He would be getting home late again. He had homework to do, and he needed to get it done and finish everything he needed to do at home in his father's absence before he could leave for his part-time job as one of the night shift at the local music store. He always got his homework done as soon as he could, even on a Friday like this. It saved him a lot of grief with his unpredictable schedules.
The bell rang. Everyone let out an audible sigh of relief. They absentmindedly shoved their papers and notebooks into their bags and filed out the door. Mrs. Harrison's voice rose above the unavoidable post-class chatter that broke out in spurts among the students.
"Remember, page 53, problems 4 through 28, due Monday."
As Rayen walked out onto the campus of Lavitz Slambert High School, named for the Knight of Serdio and Jade Dragoon who suffered an untimely death during the journey against the Moon Prophecy, he felt a tug on the back of his backpack. He didn't have to even turn around to know who it was. The same thing happened every day without fail. He didn't even bother with a greeting. He knew one was forthcoming anyway.
"Hey, Rayen!"
Rayen O'Connor and Philip Jackson had been friends for years, although nobody else could figure out why. The two could not have been more different. While Rayen was relatively quiet and solitary, preferring his own company or that of his small group of trusted friends, Phil was always the center of attention, whether through accident or his own design. Rayen was reserved, and Phil was outgoing. The two could not agree on anything. Nevertheless, they were completely inseparable, although people had tried and failed many times.
Rayen and Phil even looked different. They were both juniors, 17 years old, born within two weeks of each other in the September and October of 1009, the resemblance ended there. Rayen's hair was the color between blond and brown that had many different names, and his eyes were blue, but not the bright, icy blue people always think of when comparing the color blue to eyes. His eyes were a deeper blue, with flecks of green, which made Rayen's eyes look like the way moonlight touches the ripples of a deep lake. Phil's hair was a much darker brown, and his eyes were the kind of green where they almost look hazel. While Phil was lean and lanky, great for his position as forward on the school basketball team, Rayen was more firmly built, although one wouldn't go so far as to use the word 'stocky'.
"So, you coming to the party tonight? Lots of people are gonna be there, including."
Rayen didn't need to know what Phil was going to say next, he got the general idea. He rolled his eyes and rapped the back of Phil's head with his knuckles, their ways of saying the other was being stupid. While Phil rubbed the back of his skull and made a half-hearted protest, Rayen turned around and fixed him with the glare reserved for Phil on occasions such as this.
"You know that even if I wanted to go, which I don't (as stated before, Rayen was solitary and therefore not the life of the party), I might not be able to get off work on time. Besides, my dad's getting home late again, he'll get worried if I'm not there."
"You could always leave a note or something," Phil remarked, but he knew he was wasting his breath. Rayen's father, Joseph O'Connor, had been getting more and more pressure at work lately. With his mother gone (dead two years ago from breast cancer), Rayen was the only thing his father had left. He tried to be there as much as possible for his father. Phil understood this, but he thought his friend should lighten up a little bit more. He sighed and walked toward the parking lot with his friend in silence.
Once they got to the parking lot, Phil and Rayen split up. Phil went to his car, while Rayen headed to the bus stop. Rayen believed that taking a car was not worth the extra time and effort for the traffic jams coming to and from school, especially since he lived so close to the school in the first place. Plus, taking the bus saved a great deal of gas money. He had only a four-hour shift, and therefore didn't make a great deal of cash, which he felt no need to throw around frivolously. He boarded the bus and sat in the back in silence.
The bus dropped him off at the nearest stop to his house, and he calmly walked up to the door. His house was unremarkable; your usual tan colored suburban home. He produced the key from his bag, unlocked the door, and entered. His father was not home, of course. He wouldn't have been even if he were getting home at the normal time. He sighed, dropped his backpack on the floor and slumped onto the couch. He sat there for a few minutes, then opened the zipper, pulled out his books and some paper, and started his homework.
After a couple of hours of work, he put his things away and went into the kitchen. He fixed himself a quick grilled cheese sandwich (a diet staple in college, from what he heard), and helped himself to a bunch of grapes from the fridge. He sat down and ate. As he got up to fill up the cat's food dish, he thought he saw something in the backyard. Curious, he opened the sliding glass door and walked out to the object on the grass.
Rayen bended over to examine it. It was a ruby, perfectly circular and about the size of his fist, its many facets winking in the setting sun. Odd, he thought. A gem like this must be worth a fortune, what would it be doing in his backyard? He should talk to his father about it when he got home, and then he'd turn it over to the authorities to find the proper owner. He stooped down and picked it up.
This resulting in a sudden, blinding flash of light that caused Rayen to stagger. He blinked, but the light had gone from the stone. He pondered the cause, then came upon a possible idea. Could it be that the history books had gotten it wrong? No, Rayen decided, shaking his head, it was merely the sun catching one of the facets at an angle, nothing more. He checked his watch. 5:40. He needed to get going, or he'd be late for his 6:00 shift. He pocketed the stone, fed the cat, and left for work.
The year is 1026 After Dragoon. It had been more than a millennium since Melbu Frahma and his plot to revive the Virage Embryo were defeated. Albert returned to his duty as king of Serdio, and Miranda returned to her duties as the Sacred Sister as well. Dart, Shana, Kongol, Meru, and Haschel all worked to wipe out the remaining aberrations created to serve Melbu Frahma's hordes and destroy them during their journey to destroy the Moon Prophecy. With that work done, all the former Dragoons went their separate ways.
Haschel continued without success to find his missing daughter Claire, who was rumored to be Dart's mother as well, though these rumors were never proven. Kongol, being the only of his species left in existence, could not continue the race, which led him to die and the Gigantos to become totally extinct. Meru became an ambassador between the human and Wingly races, which led to a peaceful coexistence for several hundred years until her assassination by a member of a faction that wished the two races separated once more (whether the assassin was human or Wingly, no one knew). With their ambassador dead, the Winglies convinced themselves that there had been a human conspiracy all along and withdrew once again to their enchanted forests.
Dart and Shana were married after the unnatural monster problem was rectified (duh), and raised a family, which everyone expected would be the next generation of Dragoons. However, the Dragoon Spirits showed no reaction to the children. This convinced Dart and Shana that the need for Dragoons had passed, and they destroyed their spirits and convinced the other remaining Dragoons to do so as well. Thus the age of the Dragoons ended.
The river of Time continues to flow, as always, and a new day approaches.
Chapter 1
"Alright, who can tell me the answer to problem 9?"
About a dozen hands shot into the air.
"How about you, Mr. O'Connor?"
Rayen O'Connor was not one of the dozen students that raised their hands, but this did not bother him. Mrs. Harrison was always trying to catch a student off guard. She loved nothing more than reprimanding a student in front of the entire class. But Rayen was ready with the answer he had figured out just as quickly as any of the others. He wouldn't give Mrs. Harrison the enjoyment of publicly embarrassing him, even though it was usually forgotten the next day.
"382," Rayen said, trying to look as indifferent as he could.
"Humph. Very good, Mr. O'Connor," Mrs. Harrison replied with obvious dissatisfaction.
She continued on with the lesson. Rayen listened with the uninterested attention he always gave Mrs. Harrison. He always was this way last period, ready and anxious to get home. His father had called him during lunch period. He would be getting home late again. He had homework to do, and he needed to get it done and finish everything he needed to do at home in his father's absence before he could leave for his part-time job as one of the night shift at the local music store. He always got his homework done as soon as he could, even on a Friday like this. It saved him a lot of grief with his unpredictable schedules.
The bell rang. Everyone let out an audible sigh of relief. They absentmindedly shoved their papers and notebooks into their bags and filed out the door. Mrs. Harrison's voice rose above the unavoidable post-class chatter that broke out in spurts among the students.
"Remember, page 53, problems 4 through 28, due Monday."
As Rayen walked out onto the campus of Lavitz Slambert High School, named for the Knight of Serdio and Jade Dragoon who suffered an untimely death during the journey against the Moon Prophecy, he felt a tug on the back of his backpack. He didn't have to even turn around to know who it was. The same thing happened every day without fail. He didn't even bother with a greeting. He knew one was forthcoming anyway.
"Hey, Rayen!"
Rayen O'Connor and Philip Jackson had been friends for years, although nobody else could figure out why. The two could not have been more different. While Rayen was relatively quiet and solitary, preferring his own company or that of his small group of trusted friends, Phil was always the center of attention, whether through accident or his own design. Rayen was reserved, and Phil was outgoing. The two could not agree on anything. Nevertheless, they were completely inseparable, although people had tried and failed many times.
Rayen and Phil even looked different. They were both juniors, 17 years old, born within two weeks of each other in the September and October of 1009, the resemblance ended there. Rayen's hair was the color between blond and brown that had many different names, and his eyes were blue, but not the bright, icy blue people always think of when comparing the color blue to eyes. His eyes were a deeper blue, with flecks of green, which made Rayen's eyes look like the way moonlight touches the ripples of a deep lake. Phil's hair was a much darker brown, and his eyes were the kind of green where they almost look hazel. While Phil was lean and lanky, great for his position as forward on the school basketball team, Rayen was more firmly built, although one wouldn't go so far as to use the word 'stocky'.
"So, you coming to the party tonight? Lots of people are gonna be there, including."
Rayen didn't need to know what Phil was going to say next, he got the general idea. He rolled his eyes and rapped the back of Phil's head with his knuckles, their ways of saying the other was being stupid. While Phil rubbed the back of his skull and made a half-hearted protest, Rayen turned around and fixed him with the glare reserved for Phil on occasions such as this.
"You know that even if I wanted to go, which I don't (as stated before, Rayen was solitary and therefore not the life of the party), I might not be able to get off work on time. Besides, my dad's getting home late again, he'll get worried if I'm not there."
"You could always leave a note or something," Phil remarked, but he knew he was wasting his breath. Rayen's father, Joseph O'Connor, had been getting more and more pressure at work lately. With his mother gone (dead two years ago from breast cancer), Rayen was the only thing his father had left. He tried to be there as much as possible for his father. Phil understood this, but he thought his friend should lighten up a little bit more. He sighed and walked toward the parking lot with his friend in silence.
Once they got to the parking lot, Phil and Rayen split up. Phil went to his car, while Rayen headed to the bus stop. Rayen believed that taking a car was not worth the extra time and effort for the traffic jams coming to and from school, especially since he lived so close to the school in the first place. Plus, taking the bus saved a great deal of gas money. He had only a four-hour shift, and therefore didn't make a great deal of cash, which he felt no need to throw around frivolously. He boarded the bus and sat in the back in silence.
The bus dropped him off at the nearest stop to his house, and he calmly walked up to the door. His house was unremarkable; your usual tan colored suburban home. He produced the key from his bag, unlocked the door, and entered. His father was not home, of course. He wouldn't have been even if he were getting home at the normal time. He sighed, dropped his backpack on the floor and slumped onto the couch. He sat there for a few minutes, then opened the zipper, pulled out his books and some paper, and started his homework.
After a couple of hours of work, he put his things away and went into the kitchen. He fixed himself a quick grilled cheese sandwich (a diet staple in college, from what he heard), and helped himself to a bunch of grapes from the fridge. He sat down and ate. As he got up to fill up the cat's food dish, he thought he saw something in the backyard. Curious, he opened the sliding glass door and walked out to the object on the grass.
Rayen bended over to examine it. It was a ruby, perfectly circular and about the size of his fist, its many facets winking in the setting sun. Odd, he thought. A gem like this must be worth a fortune, what would it be doing in his backyard? He should talk to his father about it when he got home, and then he'd turn it over to the authorities to find the proper owner. He stooped down and picked it up.
This resulting in a sudden, blinding flash of light that caused Rayen to stagger. He blinked, but the light had gone from the stone. He pondered the cause, then came upon a possible idea. Could it be that the history books had gotten it wrong? No, Rayen decided, shaking his head, it was merely the sun catching one of the facets at an angle, nothing more. He checked his watch. 5:40. He needed to get going, or he'd be late for his 6:00 shift. He pocketed the stone, fed the cat, and left for work.