Howling echoes throughout a dark, secluded forest.  Inside, dead plants and animals carpet the forest floor and a thick stench lingers in the air.  Dense fog wraps around trunks of trees.  Through the thick fog a large group of figures run, maneuvering their way around fallen trees and fog.  Behind them another group of shadowy figures pursues with demon-like speed, snarling and gasping at the group ahead.  The sound of metal clashing is complemented with deathly screams and howls.

 

“It’s got my leg!  Help me!” one of the fleeing members cries as he is tripped up by one of the ghoul-like creatures from behind.  But it was too late for anyone to help.  As soon as they turned around, the man was already swallowed up by the fog, his screams echoing in the distance.  “Wha-what the hell was that!?” another of the group shouts loudly.  A large man grabs him by the collar and throws him away from the direction where the other vanished.  “Shut up and keep running!”  The group continues to run through the barricade of fallen branches and tree trunks.  Suddenly, a dark shadow figure appears from the ground, blocking their escape route.  The large man charges at the shadow.  “Stop!  Leonard!” 

 

Leonard charges at the shadow but it stealthily disappears and reappears behind him.  Large razor claws slash down at him but he manages to dodge it.  A second claw coming ripping through the fog but Leonard manages to cut through it before it reaches him.  The shadow shrieks in agony and backs away.  In the distance the howling steadily grows louder.  “Leave this guy to me, the rest of you, keep running!” Leonard shouts to the group.  “But we can’t just leave you!”

 

“Enough!”  Leonard slashes down and the shadow vanishes.  “We can’t let her get captured!  Hurry up and get out of here!”  The rest of the group reluctantly leaves Leonard and continues to run the forest path.  After several more minutes of continuous running the group stops near a large fallen tree trunk.  “Are you ok?” a man with a scar asks a small hooded figure.  He removes the hood to reveal a young girl’s face and checks for any injuries.  “Ye-yeah.  I think so,” she timidly replies.  The man nods and points in a direction ahead of the group, “The forest entrance is about 500 meters ahead so we should get a move on.”  The rest of the group nods and begins to gather themselves and their equipment.  Suddenly, melting through the fog a group of ghouls appear, surrounding the group.  Two men draw their swords and charge at the ghastly figures but are immediately swallowed up by the horde.  The rest of the group quickly draws their weapons.  “Don’t worry.  We’ll protect you,” the scarred man says confidently.  The shadows begin to move closer toward the group.  The girl struck with fear, falls to the ground.

 

Suddenly, a bright light appears beneath the girl.  Both the men and shadows pause and watch as the light radiates brightly around her.  Startled by the sudden brightness, the shadows shriek away, howling through the forest.  The soldiers shield their eyes as the light begins to grow larger, wrapping itself around the girl. “Eh?  Wha- what is this?”   The light intensifies then slowly begins to dim.  The soldiers lower their arms to see if the girl was alright but as they move closer all they see is the dark outlines of the trees in the forest. 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Sunbeams stream through the shades of a small two-story home in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood in Osaka.  Shadows creep back into the darkness as the sun peeks into the living room through a window.  From the corner of the house, the sounds of clicking and running water can be heard.  A slender young woman appears from an entrance way in the wall.  “Ta-kun!  Hurry up or you’ll be late for school!” she shouts from the kitchen.  Silence.  Sunlight continues to slowly flow its way into the house. 

 

“What is that boy doing!?”  She stomps up the stairs and into the first room.  Inside the small room a teenage boy lay sprawled across a bed asleep.  The woman walks toward the bed and begins to shake the boy awake.  “Ta-kun!  Hurry up!  It’s already 7:30!”  The boy begins to stir and sleepily sits up, his eyes still closed.  “Huh?  I didn’t order the pork ramen… I wanted kim chee…”  “WAKE UP ALREADY!!!!” she yells in his ears.  The yell echoes throughout the house into each room. 

 

“Ugh… Alright already, I’m awake… sheesh…” the boy murmurs.  Slowly he slides off the bed and walks out into the hallway. 

 

“Ohaiyou Takashi!” a young girl chirps, her head poked out into the hallway. 

 

“Uh… Rina?  Mornin’...” Takashi lazily replies.  He continues to drag himself slowly to the bathroom.  Rina runs around Takashi and stops at the stairs “Come on!  You’re so slow in the morning!”   “I’m not a morning person remember,” Takashi says unconsciously, “Anyway I’m going to shower.  Unless you’re joining me…”  Takashi suddenly goes flying into the bathroom, hitting the bathtub.  “Hey that hurt!  What the hell was that for!” yells Takashi.  Outside, Takashi hears footsteps running down the stairs.  “Man I… Ah, whatever…”

 

It’s the same every day.  Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, go to school, go to practice, come home, eat, homework, sleep.  Mom and dad both work good jobs so we can go to school.  My mom’s name is Mayumi and my dad’s is Nick.  My sister Rina was the one who just flew me into the bathroom.  She can be a handful at times but she’s never a bore. My older brother, Rick, is in college studying to become a marine biologist.  Oh, my name is Takashi Umenosuke.  I’m 17 years old and in my second year in high school.  My grades are pretty good seeing as I don’t do much other than sports.  Like I said, my life is pretty much nor…

 

Takashi freezes as his eyes fixate on the shower floor.  A young girl lay motionless on the damp, tile.  A white and blue colored robe dressed her slim body.  Long white boots covered her feet and lower legs and light blue gloves wrapped softly around her small hands.  Her long dark purple hair spider webbed out and covered most of shower floor.  “What the hell…?”  Takashi moves closer toward the girl and begins to examine her.  “Doesn’t look like anyone I know…  Then again, who wears this kind of clothes?  Hey wait a second.  Why is there a girl in my bathroom!?”

 

As Takashi gets closer to her, the young girl begins to stir.  “He-hey are you alright?” Takashi nervously asks.  He bends down closer.  Suddenly the girl sits up and collides her head with Takashi’s. Both grasp their heads for a moment, stunned.  “Ow… hey, are you ok?” Takashi asks again.  Still dazed, the girl looks up at Takashi.  Startled, she attempts to stand up but trips over her robe and lands on top of Takashi. 

 

“Ow… hey maybe you shouldn’t be standing.”  Takashi tries to move out from underneath the girl.  “Ah…”  As he moves, his hand grabs something.  “Huh?  Soft…”  Takashi suddenly goes flying into the bathroom door.

 

Takashi’s mom jumps from the sudden noise.  “What was that!?”  “Sounded like something blew up,” replied Rina with a mouthful of eggs.  “I’m going to check upstairs.  Rina, get ready to go.”  “OK!”  Rina runs up the stairs to her room, the mother trailing behind her. 

 

“Crap!  My mom is coming!  Uh, we gotta hide you somewhere!”  Takashi scrambles around the bathroom trying to find a place for the girl to hide.  Curiously, the girl watches. 

 

“Um…” the girl softly asks, “I need to hide?”

 

“Huh?  Yeah it’ll be bad if my mom sees something like this.  Trust me.”

 

A bright orange light begins to appear from the girl’s necklace then slowly fades away. 

 

“I’m hiding.”

 

“Like hell you are!” Takashi screams.  Suddenly, the bathroom door opens. “Ahhh! I can explain!”

 

“Ta-kun are you ok?  Hurry up or you’ll be late for school.”

 

“There’s a perfectly good ex...  Wait what did you say?”

 

“It's almost 8:00 am Takashi.  If you’re going to shower stop fooling around and get moving!  I’m going to take Rina to school now.  Don’t forget your lunch on the dining table.”

 

“Ah… ok… *sigh* Hey, what the hell did you just…?”  Takashi turns and begins to speak but stops to stare at the spot where the mysterious girl sat seconds ago.

 

“Ta-kun!  Hurry up!” the mother yells.

 

“Who was this girl that just randomly appears out of nowhere inside of my bathroom?  Ah!  I know!  I’m still dreaming!  That’s right this is all a dream.   But even then…”  Takashi looks at his hand.  “Even though… It felt pretty real… Damn!  This is not the time to be thinking!” 

 

After a quick shower, Takashi dashes to get changed and heads out for school.  Little to his knowing the young girl who appeared before him was quietly following from above.

 

*huff* *huff* “Great, I’m late now because of that weird dream.  Guess I have to take a shortcut.”  Takashi leaps over a fence and begins running through a construction site.  Dodging through the scaffolding, he reappears on the other side and continues to run, the purple haired girl flying close behind. 

 

In the distance a young girl around the same age as Takashi, walks in the direction of the school.  Her slender figure seems to float across the sidewalk as her long, black hair radiates in the sun.  Hearing the sound of footsteps she turns around for a glance.  A teenage boy runs up on the other side of the street, gripping his bag tightly.  She waves her arm and shouts at the boy but he continues to run, not noticing her at all.  Quietly, she continues to make her way up the street.

 

“*huff* … made it…” Takashi gasps.  He looks at his watch.  “7:45 am.  Five minutes to spare…  Guess I can take my time.” 

 

“Looks like you made it,” a voice chirps.

 

“Haha, guess so…ahhh!!!”  Takashi glances upward to see the purple-haired girl floating above him.   Gracefully, she floats to the ground until her feet touch the ground.  “Hi!” she smiles.  Takashi stares at her for a minute.  “Wait, you mean this morning… and the bathroom…”  Takashi starts pointing at the girl.

 

The girl smiles, tilting her head to one side.  “Yes?”

 

“Never mind…”  Takashi slowly drags himself into the building with the girl following behind him.  “So that means all of that stuff that happened… was real!?”

 

“Are you gonna follow me around for the rest of the day?” Takashi moans, looking at the girl.

 

“Huh?  You mean I can’t?” the girl asks shyly.

 

“Well it’s not that I care if you do or not.  But it’ll be bad if someone saw us together.”  The girl stares at Takashi with a confused look.  “Eh… Alright.  You can come just don’t get seen by others.  It’ll be a problem if that happens.” 

 

“Yay!”  The girl jumps on Takashi, knocking him off balance.

 

“Come on… give me a break already…” Takashi yells. 

 

Later on during the morning break, Takashi sits at his desk staring out the window at the field.  The girl who followed him floated above in a cross legged position.  Takashi looks up.  “So, what’s your name?” he asks, “I mean you ought to have one right?  Or should I just keep calling you ‘girl’?”

 

“Huh? Oh.  My name is Ayame.  Ayame Stellia,” the girl smiles.

 

“Stellia huh?” Takashi inquires.  “Is that European?”

 

“European?  Is that a type of food?”

 

“Never mind…”  Takashi turns his head and continues to stare out the window.  “What kind of answer is that?  This isn’t an anime or anything…”  Ayame hovers closer to Takashi.  “Um… whats your name?” 

 

“Takashi.  Takashi Umenosuke.  Takashi is fine,” he bluntly replies. 

 

“It’s nice to meet you Takashi!”

 

“Yeah.  So… why are you following me again?”

 

“Well the thing is…” Ayame begins.

 

 “U-ME-NO-SU-KE!”

 

“Oh no…” Takashi turns around to find a young girl with long black hair stands with her hands crossed and a death glare in her eyes. “Go-good morning, Sayako… Ehehehe…”

 

 “What was with you this morning?  I waved and said good morning and all but totally ignored me!” she yells.

 

“Hmm...” Takashi begins, “Ah you mean when I was running!  I was late waking up so I had to rush here.”

 

Sayako gets closer to Takashi.  “We always walk to school together!  You mean you forgot our promise already?”

 

“It’s not like I forgot about it.”  Takashi pictures him and Ayame in the bathroom together.  “A lot of stuff happened this morning, that’s all…”

 

Sayako slams her hand on Takashi’s desk, her other hand clenched in a fist.

 

Sayako Tabana.  Guess you could call her my childhood friend.  I known her since 5 when she moved here.  She may not look it but she’s really shy. 

 

Sayako begins to throw punches at Takashi.  Surprised, Takashi jumps out of his chair and begins to dodge the blows.

 

Oh did I forget to mention she’s a black belt in karate.  As you can tell she’s also a very violent per…

 

Takashi flies back as one of Sayako’s fists connects with Takashi’s face.

 

“Ow…  Man, why do you always have to hit me? Sae-chan…! Oh crap…” Takashi slowly stares up at Sayako.  Sayako lifts her fist to her face, which is deep red.  “IDIOT!!!”

 

Takashi goes flying out of the window.

 

“Hey Sayako! This is the second floor you know!  He could seriously be hurt!” a classmate yells.

 

“Oh no!  Takashi!”  Sayako and several others run to the window and look outside but find nothing.

 

“He’s not down there!  Do you see him?”

 

“No, nothing over here!  Someone call the nurse!”

 

Sayako collapses to her knees and bursts into tears.  “Takashi…”

 

Meanwhile on the rooftop sat Ayame and a bruised Takashi.

 

“Ow!  Hey!  What are you doing?”  Takashi yells as Ayame grabs his arm.     

 

“That girl sure is violent.  Why would she hit you Takashi?” Ayame asks as she pulls out a small vial from a pouch at her waist.

 

“Not usually.  She is the assertive type but she doesn’t usually use force.” Takashi murmurs, “And when she does us force its usually on me…  Ugh what the hell is that smell?  It stinks.”

 

“Here,” Ayame hands him the bottle, “Drink it.  It will help your arm.”

 

Takashi takes the bottle and holds it away as he stares at the violet-colored liquid.  “Looks kinda weird…  Eh well can’t be worse than Sayako’s cooking.”  He chugs the entire liquid down, wiping the residue from his mouth with his sleeve.  “Whoa, the pain.  It’s like totally gone.  No, it’s like I feel like brand new or something.”

 

“I’m glad it helped,” Ayame smiles.

 

Suddenly, the entire building begins to shake violently.  Clouds of dust begin to pick up, making it hard to see.  A low rumbling sound appears off in the distance, slowly getting louder.     

 

“Earthquake!?”

 

“*cough*  I can’t see anything!”

 

Takashi and Ayame stare out into the distant forest where a large cloud of black smoke can be seen hovering just above the tree line.  “Fossoyeur*…” Ayame says quietly.     *(French: gravedigger)

 

Takashi turns to Ayame with a confused look on his face. “What?”

 

“A gravedigger.  A giant worm-like creature that engulfs entire cities,” Ayame continues, “It’s one of the weapons used by the demon lords on Anistes, the place where I’m from.”

 

Takashi stares back out at the smoke cloud, which has increased in size.  From below the smoke, a large worm erupts through the earth.  A loud cry smashes through the air, shattering windows and kicking up so much wind that several large trees are uprooted and thrown several miles.  Inside the building several people clasp their ears from the loud moans while others are knocked back from the force of the wind. 

 

“I don’t get it though!” Takashi yells through the wind, “Things like that don’t just appear out of nowhere!  It’s way too big!  Even if it did come from your world there are no cities here.  This is mostly country-side!”

 

Ayame shakes her head.  “The gravedigger has the ability to time slip through dimensions.  There’s no limit to place it can travel.  Also, the demon lords often use it as transports, carrying their troops inside.  A very terrifying weapon.”

 

The low rumbling cry continues to echo across the landscape.  Suddenly the school building begins to shake violently.  “Wha-what the hell is this!?”  Takashi screams as he tries to maintain his balance.

 

“An ultrasonic attack!  Quick we have to escape!  Grab on!”  Ayame reaches out to Takashi and grabs his hand.  Just then another wave hits the building, throwing both of them off the rooftop.

 

“Hang on!”  Ayame yells.  Just as the two begin to descend rapidly from above a large pair of feathered wings materialize from Ayame’s back.  They flap several times, slowing their fall.

 

“You ok?” Ayame asks as they land on the ground.

 

“Yeah, somehow...”  Takashi stares at Ayame.  “In any case we have to deal with that somehow.  How the hell do we take something like that down?”

 

Ayame reaches into her pouch and pulls out a stack of cards.  “These cards hold special equipment which allows its user to have full fighting capabilities.  Each card has a different spell attached to it so that…!”  Ayame turns to see a large tree smash into the ground, its branches colliding with her stomach.  “Ayame!”  Takashi runs to her but finds her unconscious, blood trickling down from the corner of .

 

“.  You bastard!  I’ll kill you for this!!!”  Takashi yells at the worm, which lets out another blast of air.  “Even then… I don’t have anything to fight with.  And to take something down that size…”  He collapses to his knees.  Suddenly a bright light begins to shine underneath him.  Takashi lifts his palm to find one of Ayame’s cards illuminating a bright greenish light.  “What is… this?”  The light begins to shine brighter and soon Takashi is surrounded by its bright rays.  Dazed, Ayame regains consciousness and is suddenly bewildered by the spectacle.  “Takashi?”  In the distance, the worm turns in the direction of the light and begins to rapidly move closer.

 

As the light subsides, Takashi looks down to find his high school uniform missing.  In its place, a light green silk robe dressed his body.  Long white socks and clogs replaced what were his shoes and extra long ribbon tied back his hair.  Takashi held up the card to his face, which still glowed a bright green.  Gradually the light began to fade and the card began to change shape.  As the light vanished, a long pole with a blade at the end was left in his hand. 

 

“What the… a naginata!?” Takashi exclaimed as held the weapon in his hand.  “It feels really light!  Almost as if it was made of nothing!  And this clothes…  What’s going on here?”

 

“It’s your elemental attribute.”  Takashi turns around to see Ayame struggling to your feet.  “Bénédiction de la déesse du vent” (French: Blessing of the Wind Goddess)

 

“Hey stop!  You shouldn’t be standing!”  Takashi catches Ayame as she falls again.  Another blast of wind flies in and knocks Takashi backwards.  “.  You’re pissing me off!” 

 

Takashi charges at the worm, which has been slowly advancing toward the school.  It lets out another cry but Takashi jumps high over it.  His aims his weapon at the advancing worm, glowing brightly and circles of wind begin to from around it.  “Take it! Sen Hana no Suto! (Thousand Blossom Strike)” Hundreds of arrows soar through the air at the worm, piercing though its body from all directions.  The worm lets out a loud shirking sound before collapsing to the ground with a loud boom. 

 

Takashi lands and quickly runs over to Ayame, who is sitting against a fallen tree trunk. “Hey! You ok?”  Ayame slowly turns to Takashi.  “Yes, I have been healing myself this whole time so most of my injuries have gone away.”  Takashi lets out a sigh of relief and collapses to the ground.  He stares at the dead behemoth and then into the sky, trying to recollect his thoughts.  “Even then… I still don’t know what I just did…”