(Prologue)

It all started long ago in a nation unknown to humankind. An old woman who devoted her life into finding the key to immortality had finally made a breakthrough. But there was one more thing needed to complete the stone she had made. And that was a human sacrifice. She thought long and hard on what to do about this, and finally decided that she didn’t want to live her life for an eternity as a haggard, sick old woman and gave her remaining life to the stone. For hundreds of years the stone sat in her house’s ruin, and was eventually discovered by a young man. Astounded by how beautiful the stone was, and unaware of it’s hidden power, he made it into a necklace and gave it to his wife. For years she never took it off, and soon realized how her husband had aged over the years while she had not. But she still remained faithful to him till the day he died. Not long after he did, a war broke out between the humans of this unknown land and demons. As the woman began to flee from her village, which was now under attack, what looked like a flash of lightning struck through her chest. The necklace shattered into five pieces, all shooting in opposite directions through the sky. A few days later after the demons had destroyed the small village, a traveling thief with brown hair, blue eyes, and tattered clothes, named Kai, came upon the woman face down on the ground. Thinking that she was still alive he turned her over on her back, seconds after her eyes shot open and she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Gasping for air she begged him to help her. Kai looked at her with confusion, knowing there was nothing a traveling thief, like him, could do to help her. A shimmer caught his eye. It was the broken necklace around her neck with a piece of the stone still attached to it. He knew he shouldn’t steal from a dieing woman, but did anyway. Just as he slipped the necklace over her head she instantly froze and crumbled to nothing. Frightened he dashed off away from the village. He finally stopped by a river bank. Kneeling down on the cold, soft ground he cupped his hands in the water and splashed it on his face. As he gasped for air he thought about what he saw. Giving it some thought long into the night he put on the necklace. When he did he felt a jolt of energy go through his body. He loved the way he could feel endless energy pulsing through his veins, and decided wear the necklace for the rest of his travels. The stone remained unheard of for three hundred years...

Part 1

Helena sighed as she stomped through the tall grass of the local training grounds with her thumbs tucked into the straps of her backpack. She was supposed to meet her friend Abel there. The grass brushed against her baggy navy blue pants and barely grazed her favorite orange tank. She finally came to a stop in front of a clearing and plopped down on the dusty ground. She ran her fingers through her short black hair and laughed at the thought of traveling with her good friend Abel. Who just happened to be the boy she’s liked since the age of 10. “What are you so giddy about?” a voice came from a nearby treetop. “Nothing,” Helena replied with a sly smile. Soon as she said that a boy with silver hair and forest green eyes leaped down in front of her and smiled. “Well? What is it?” he said. Before replying, Helena stopped a second to admire the boy’s smooth pale skin and the way his black sleeveless jacket and pants fit perfectly around his slim body. “It’s just that I still can’t believe it! We’re going to be immortal, Abel!” Helena exclaimed as she happily jumped up and down like child. She soon began to sing the word to herself, “Immortal…Immortal…I-M-M-O-R……um…”
Abel sighed, “I-M-M-O-R-T-A-L. You suck at spelling so why bother?”
“Hey! I’ll show you--”, Helena began, but Abel quickly cupped his hand over her mouth, stopping her in mid-sentence. “Sshh! I was just kidding. Anyway, don’t be so loud. If people find out what we’re up to…it could cause us a lot of trouble,” whispered Abel. Helena nodded in agreement and gently removed his hand from over her mouth. “We should get going,” Abel said as he picked up Helena’s tattered backpack.
As they made their way, over what used to be a lake, Helena howled with frustration, “Augh! It’s got to be around here somewhere!”
“Just be patient. We’ll find it soon enough,” sighed Abel.
“But we’ve been searching all day!” complained Helena, “I mean, after we find this piece all we’ll need is three more pieces. From then on out it’ll be smooth sailing, right?”
“Not exactly…” countered Abel. Helena sighed heavily and continued to search over the dry lake. As the sun began to set they decided to search again in the morning. “Well, we’d better eat and get some rest. We’ve got a long day tomorrow if we don’t find that piece of the stone soon.” Abel said.
“Yeah…” Helena said with a look of worry on her face. As she began digging in her bag for that night’s dinner, Abel walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Hey--” he began, but was cut off by a rumble of laughter. “Aaw! Giving up your search already?” the voice came from the shadows of the trees that loomed above the horizon, “I was hoping you’d wander from your bag eventually so I could steal the piece of stone you have.”
“Who’s there?!” demanded Helena. Suddenly a boy appeared from the shadows in front of them. He wore a red long sleeved shirt that almost looked like a turtle neck, but with an oversized collar, and faded black pants. “What’s it matter? Once I get what I want, we’ll never see each other again,” the boy said as he brushed his black bangs from his sharp blue eyes. He held up the piece of stone that Helena and Abel had been searching for all day with a smirk across his face. “Hey! That’s ours!” yelled Helena, “Hand it over!”
“Now, now…no need to get angry,” the strange boy scolded as he put the piece of stone into his pocket. “Now just give me all the pieces you have and I’ll be on my way.”
“Oh I’ll give you something alright!” Helena challenged as she charged towards the boy with angry fists. No one in Helena’s village had ever dared to make her angry because they knew she could pack a punch. But this time was different. The boy didn’t seem to be phased at all. He blocked every one of her punches with ease. “Stop toying with me!” screamed Helena. The boy just laughed and gave her a swift punch to the stomach. Letting out a gasp of pain, Helena landed with a thud on the ground. “Helena!” yelled Abel as he ran to her aid. “Hand over the pieces you have, or you’re next!” the boy snarled. Abel glared at the boy with his frightening green eyes and appeared in front of him in a flash. Caught off guard the boy flew a punch towards Abel’s face. Abel easily evaded it and countered with a blow to the stomach. As the boy hunched over in pain Abel grabbed him by his head and drove his knee into his face. As the boy fell to the ground in agony, the stone he had waved in Helena’s face earlier rolled out of his pocket and onto the cracked dirt. Abel gently picked it up and blew the dirt off of it. He looked down at the boy solemnly, watching him as he moaned from the pain of his blows. He turned to help Helena up, “C’mon we should get going.” Helena winced as she stood up with the support of Abel’s arm. “Abel, I’m fine. I don’t need your help,” Helena sighed quietly.
“Are you sure?” Abel questioned. “Well, I’m going to help you anyway.” He picked up her bag and they started off leaving the injured boy behind.
The next day, as they walked Abel glanced behind him and Helena every so often. “What do you keep looking at?” Helena stopped and squinted her eyes through the bright afternoon rays of the sun. “Nothings there.” She said.
“Just keep going.” Abel demanded.
“Yeah, yeah,” She sighed. Just as Helena began to turn around she heard a voice call out. “Wait! Wait up!” It was the boy from yesterday running to catch up with them.
“Huuuuh? What the heck does he want?” Helena looked at the boy wide eyed and confused.
“Hey…” the boy huffed, “I want to join you guys!”
“No.” Abel stated.
“Why not?” he questioned.
“You just want to steal our stone pieces.” Abel countered.
“No I don’t! I just think we’d all be better off sticking together. Besides, it’s gets lonely after traveling for so long by yourself.” The boy said looking down as he stirred up dirt with his tattered black boots.
“Fine,” Helena said, “On one condition.”
“What’s that?” the boy asked with growing excitement. Just as he looked up Helena’s fist went flying towards his face. The boy went skidding a few feet away on the ground. “That’s all.” Helena smirked and walked over to lend the boy a hand up. “So what’s your name anyway?”
“My name?” he asked with astonishment, “My name is Kai.”

Part 1 End